Others See Us
William Sleator
Puffin
Fiction, YA Chiller/Fantasy
Themes: Cross-Genre, Mind Powers
****
Description
Vacationing at his grandmother's beachfront estate for the summer, sixteen-year-old Jared has an accident. His bike's brakes fail, sending him tumbling into a local swamp that reeks with toxic waste. He comes out none the worse for wear, after a few showers, but soon discovers that the spill has given him the ability to read minds. The annual family get-together is about to become more exciting than he ever imagined, as dark secrets are revealed and ulterior motives become clear before his developing powers. Soon, Jared is caught in power struggles in the confines of another's mind, as he learns that he is not the first to discover the powers of the swamp's strange waters.
Review
I found it for two bucks at the Book Warehouse discount bookstore, and I definitely got my money's worth out of it. It's a nicely paranoid story, where nobody doesn't have a secret and a sociopathic relative vies for power with the matriarchal Grandma. Quick, interesting, and suspenseful.