Exposure
Kim Askew and Amy Helmes
Okay, sure, Shakespeare it ain’t. But you gotta hand it to two gals who can take one of Shakespeare’s plays, and in their Twisted Lit series, put a YA slant on it that may not produce great literature, but can create a whole lotta fun. In the case of “Exposure”, elements of the Bard’s “MacBeth” – including the murder of a king, the return of a usurping hero, a trio of prophecies and an evil, manipulating, um, girlfriend (not the first word that comes to mind, but is more polite) – are threaded in with high school politics, teenage drama and modern day intrigue. Skye Kingston is a lovely, but gawky and shy high school senior, who would rather hide behind her camera than be in the spotlight. She’s always been an outsider, but this year is especially hard, because she has developed a major crush on the new guy in town, super hot transfer student Craig MacKenzie.
Well, he’s not that new – he moved to Anchorage, Alaska from Illinois two years ago, but when he first moved north, he and Skye palled around almost exclusively for the first summer and she thought their friendship was pretty tight. But then, high school top dog Duncan Shaw takes Craig under his wing, social status climbing Beth Morgan hooks her claws into him, and Skye is left hiding behind her camera again.
Then, tragedy strikes when Duncan is killed during a late night, alcohol laced party. At first it seems like his death was an accident, but Skye has her suspicions that there is more to it than that – and she fears that Beth and Craig are somehow involved. Does she clue the authorities in on what she knows, and implicate the one boy that she has ever had feelings for? Or does she stay silent, and watch from behind the camera as lives around her start to unravel?
Somehow, I think Shakespeare would be pleased.
