CHASING TAIL LIGHTS

Although she’s smart and fast on her feet, Christy is sure her life in Flint, Mich. is going nowhere. The best she can do is to take her beloved dead father’s advice: Follow the taillights of the car in front of you, and it will lead you to where you need to go. She’s convinced herself that the dark events of her past mean she will amount to nothing in the future, but thanks to the sage words of cute coworker and a teacher’s open ear she learns to make some smart choices and take control of her own destiny in times of trauma. This has all the conventions of a successful teen problem novel, including poverty, sexual abuse, neglectful and dead parents, parents who live for power trips, drug dealing, incarceration and unrequited crushes. Unfortunately, the maudlin writing often gets in the way of the plot and character development. In spite of these difficulties, the pacing is excellent, building to a tidy ending. Emo teens and fans of Dave Pelzer’s books will love the oceans of angst and the many dire situations Christy and her friends and family face and eventually survive. (Fiction. YA)