Bestselling author Lurlene McDaniel has taken a turn from her normally heartbreaking inspirational novels to write something completely different with PREY. This time around, she tackles a once taboo subject head-on -- that of the skewed relationship between a female teacher and her young male student.
Ryan Piccoli is a typical teen. He's fifteen, a freshman in high school, has a close knit group of friends that include Joel and Honey, and a fairly average student. Although his mother died when he was still a toddler, he has a father that, although gone most of the time as part of his job, still tries to connect with him as much as he can. Things are going pretty well; he's hoping for a car for Christmas for his sixteenth birthday, he's both excited and anxious to be starting high school, he's wondering if he'll get a girlfriend. And then the unthinkable happens: he meets Miss Lori Settles, the knew World History teacher.
Miss Settles is an immediate hit at McAllister High School, at least with the male population (you'd probably get a different response from the females). She's young, she's gorgeous, she seems to understand teenagers, and she has the most important attribute that any normal male can ask for -- she's got a body to die for, and she dresses for school each day in a way that will show it to its best advantage. Suddenly, every guy in the building, from students to faculty, wants to find a way to spend time with Miss Settles.
Only Ryan gets to spend time with her in a way that no one else would ever expect. What starts off innocently enough as a request to help his teacher move furniture soon evolves into trips to a coffee shop late at night. And when those trips then turn into visits at her apartment, Ryan figures it's only right, since they obviously are in love with each other. What follows is a sexual affair that, although high in intensity, might end up burning them both in the end.
Ms. McDaniel has written a real page-turner with PREY. Once you start reading, you'll not want to stop until the last word is read. This is a book that has no clear-cut answers and, actually, has no clear sense of who has done right and who has done wrong. Pick up a copy -- you'll be glad you did.
Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"
