Dear Secret Agent
Thirteen year old Mitch hates reading. In fact, pounding a nail through his thumb sounds more fun than five minutes with a book. He's got better things to do, like hang out with Jen, or work on the shelf he’s building for her in his workshop. Heck, he'd even rather be doing his geometry homework. When everyone at school starts obsessing over a new novel, he hopes the craze passes quickly.
But it doesn’t.
Within days, all of the students, teachers, and even Mitch’s parents are reading Lure. Their obsession with it deepens until everyone is reading it all of the time. Mitch has to pull his dad out from under a fallen truss while he--and everyone else on the construction site--continues to read. He pulls two friends out of a car wreck only to watch the life bleed out of them while they read on. And even when Mitch and Jen realize people are literally reading themselves to death, Jen succumbs to the book’s mysterious pull. With Jen now under its spell, Mitch is the only one left to find some way to break the obsession... before he loses everyone he loves.
My MG Paranormal novel LURE is complete at 35,000 words. I am a member of SCBWI and the Florida Writers Association. Thank you for the opportunity.
***
I always thought books were boring and a waste of time, but not dangerous. I was wrong. Anything that caused Melissa to approach me was far from harmless.
“Have you read this, Mitch?” Melissa asked, shoving a book in my face.
The paperback filled my vision, so close it blurred. Fantastic. An encounter with Melis-snob was the first item on my To-Don’t list.
“Uh, no. I’m not really into books, Melissa.” I tried to keep the annoyance out of my voice, hoping to avoid a confrontation. I just wanted to throw my stuff in my locker and head home.
“Oh, but it’s so amazing!" she exclaimed. "You really have to read it. Here." She thrust a paper at me. "I’m starting a book club. You should join.” Melissa had a smile plastered across her face, but her eyes were hard – predatory.
Did she just ask me to join her club? I looked down at the book. Lure. The combination of the title and the way Melissa was acting creeped me out.
Kelly pushed forward out of the circle of Melissa-groupies surrounding me. “Yeah. I read the back, and it sounds awesome. I can’t wait to go home and read it! I even got an extra one for Dane.”
My mouth dropped open. She’s delusional if she thinks Dane’s gonna read that book.
“No thanks, it’s really not my thing,” I said.
