MARBURY LENS

Mixing a trauma reckoning with dark apocalyptic fantasy a psychological thriller about a teen who faces down demons in an alternate universe (Booklist starred review).Sixteen-year-old Jack gets drunk and is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is kidnapped. He escapes narrowly. The only person he tells is his best friend Conner. When they arrive in London as planned for summer break a stranger hands Jack a pair of glasses. Through the lenses he sees another world called Marbury.There is war in Marbury. It is a desolate and murderous place where Jack is responsible for the survival of two younger boys. Conner is there too. But he''s trying to kill them.Meanwhile Jack is falling in love with an English girl and afraid he''s losing his mind.Andrew Smith has written his most beautiful and personal novel yet as he explores the nightmarish outer limits of what trauma can do to our bodies and our minds.An engrossing horror/fantasy hybrid . . . Nightmarish imagery is chillingly effective and the pacing superbly builds suspense. —Kirkus Reviews[The Marbury Lens] will keep readers enthralled with its well-developed characters and unique plot. —School Library JournalThis bloody and genuinely upsetting book packs an enormous emotional punch. —Publishers Weekly starred reviewThe Marbury Lens crawls inside your head and won''t leave. Scary creepy awful and awesome. What a cool book! —Michael Grant New York Times–bestselling author of Gone and HungerSmith keeps the tension between Marbury and the present-day worlds as taut as the tightrope Jack walks. . . . Just try to put this book down. —Shelf Awareness