Streams of Babel

Title: Streams of Babel

Author: Carol Plum-Ucci

Rating: B+

The small community of Trinity Falls, New Jersey is perhaps the last place one would suspect as a target for a terrorist attack; however, when several of the residences fall ill from a mysterious, deadly flu, the race begins to solve what is causing these deaths and who exactly is responsible.

Although the story originally follows the plight of four Trinity Falls teenagers who are suffering from the disease, a second sub-plot soon develops following two teenage computer hackers who are working with the U.S. government to solve the mystery. It is quickly discovered that this mysterious illness stems from a poisoned water supply, which only leads to the questions of how and why? The hackers must track a group of terrorists; discover how the water supply was contaminated; and find the true nature of this disease...all before time runs out for the teens of Trinity Falls!

The Good: I don't normally read mystery/suspense, but this novel made me want to start! I loved the fast-paced action that made it extremely hard to put the book down at times.

The Bad: I felt that the author was overly-obvious with some of her clues. I also thought it a bit of a stretch that the teens in the book had just the right knowledge/expertise for each and every situation...I mean, how many suburban teens really know that much about crop irrigation.

Although this isn't necessarily bad, I found myself questioning why exactly the author would chose to set the story in 2002 (Streams of Babel was just published this year.) Like I said, not exactly a negative - just something that caused me to wonder...