THE BODY OF CHRISTOPHER CREED by Carol Plum-Ucci
    Category:  Mystery/Thriller
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
    Release Date:  11/1/01
    Publisher:  Volo
    Reviewed by:  Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"
    Rating:  5 Stars


    Everyone knows someone like Christopher Creed. He is, after all, the kid you love to hate. He'll treat you like his
    best friend, hanging onto your every word, following you everywhere you go, even as you tell him to go away. He'll
    get up, smiling, after you've punched him in the mouth for saying something totally inappropriate. He's the kid we see
    at every high school:  the one with no friends, who thinks he knows everything, loathed by all and yet oblivious to our
    hatred.

    Except Christopher Creed wasn't totally oblivious, as shown by the email he sends to the school principal the day he
    ends up missing. No one seems to know for sure whether Creed was contemplating running away or committing
    suicide--all they know is that he's gone, disappeared as if he'd never lived in the town of Steepleton at all.

    For Victor "Torey" Adams, the day Chris Creed drops off the face of the Earth is a defining, and life-altering, day for
    him. Suddenly confused by the way he's treated Creed in the past, ashamed by the pure glee that his fellow students
    seem to get out of speculating what happened to the missing teen, Torey is disillusioned with his life--and so sets out
    to discover what truly happened to Christopher Creed the day he went missing.

    Along with two unlikely allies, a once-popular girl now considered to be an easy lay and a "boon" boy from the
    wrong side of the tracks, Torey has become obsessed with unearthing clues to Creed's mysterious disappearance.
    As he learns more about the strange happenings in the Creed home, as he becomes convinced that Christopher's
    mother is hiding something, as he wanders the woods looking for a body, Torey learns something about the way the
    world works--and it isn't pretty.

    THE BODY OF CHRISTOPHER CREED is an engaging mystery, but it's also a look into the life and times of
    every high school in the world. The cliques, the drama, the need to belong. The bullying, the hatred, the intense
    pressure to fit in. Ms. Plum-Ucci has penned a book that goes straight to the heart of the matter.  When things are
    unbearable in your life, when fiction is preferable to fact, how far are you willing to go to change your destiny?

    A real winner, this is definitely a recommended read!
The Body of Christopher Creed
by Carol Plum-Ucci