ZIPPED
Laura and Tom McNeal
Knopf
Fiction
ISBN: 0375814914
288 pages

Fifteen-year-old Mick Nichols opens the wrong file on his computer and discovers that his beloved stepmother is having an affair! He can barely stand to look at her and keeps the copied file on a disk, zipped to the inside of his jacket.

Mick has been close to his stepmother Nora ever since she married his father. They would talk or work on household projects together and were good friends. Soon he is able to see that she is lying about where she is going at night when his father works late. She is also encouraging Mick to take a job as a groundskeeper that will keep him very busy --- and away from home.

Who could her boyfriend be? As Mick begins to piece together clues about who the mystery man is, he fears that he will never have a good relationship with his stepmother again. Who can he turn to for help? Certainly not his father, and he's not ready to confront Nora yet. Mick remembers how devastated his father was when his mother left the family when Mick was little.

In the meantime, he learns that a gorgeous college girl and another girl he has a major crush on are nothing like he imagined. Myra Vidal, the college girl, looks to Mick as a confidant for her many issues. Lisa, his crush, comes from a Mormon family and also works at the same place where Mick works. Parts of the novel follow her story, and readers will see her path begin to merge with Mick's.

Characters in this book are exciting in that they have many layers, making the plot both suspenseful and realistic. A great read!

   --- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

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