Still, that afternoon, that moment, when that first molecule pierced her skin, was the beginning of our connection, one that led me into a darkness that was as twisted as it was sublime. I had seen her in the halls and hungered for her from afar like every other dude at the Hollows, but we hadn’t talked. People in the pageant world were saying she was sure to win Miss New Jersey.

She had been on the front page of a lot of newspapers. She’d won a high-profile beauty competition the year before, the under-sixteen division.

Agent: Kirby Kim, William Morris Endeavor. As always, Griffin (Stay with Me) fills his story with fascinating, distinctive characters whose interior and exterior struggles are closely entwined. Jay is an accomplished hacker-he’s not infallible, but he could hold his own in a Cory Doctorow novel-and tech-obsessed readers will love seeing him adapt cellphones, computers, and Web sites to his advantage. The brunt of the narrative follows Jay’s investigation, as well as his developing relationship with Nicole, while interspersed entries from Nicole’s diaries, her shrinks’ notes, and e-mails from the perpetrator add depth (yes, there are red herrings, but as Jay discovers, nearly every potential suspect has a secret). After popular and gorgeous senior Nicole Castro is sprayed in the face with acid in the halls of her New Jersey high school, 16-year-old Jay Nazarro, a closeted hacker with epilepsy, is determined to uncover who is behind the attack. The idea of finding beauty and value where most see ugliness and ruin runs through Griffin’s novels, and he brings that theme into sharp focus in this chilling, of-the-moment mystery.

Burning blue by paul griffin