Category: Young Adult/Teen Publisher: The Poisoned Pencil Press
ISBN-10: 1929345003
Type: Fiction
Pages: 301
Copyright: April 2014
ISBN-13: 9781929345007
Street smart sixteen-year-old Faith Flores must find out the true cause of her mother's death, supposedly from a heroin overdose. Her pursuit of the truth will lead her from the myriad back alleys and science laboratories of Philadelphia to one of the most powerful scientists in the city.
When loner Faith Flores finds her mother dead of an apparent overdose, she refuses to believe that's the case. Sure, her mom made some bad decisions, but leaving her daugther would never be one of them. Unfortunately, the cops are all to eager to close the case and move on, sending a distraught and unsatisfied Faith to live with her Aunt T in the suburbs of Philadelphia.
But a note from Melinda, her mom's old junkie friend, prompts Fatih to begin digging, igniting her passion in science and her need for answers. Faith soon discovers Melinda and her mother had participated in a clinical trial to treat heroin addiction. Then Melinda also turns up dead from an apparent overdose.
Now Faith is pulling out all the stops in her search for the truth, cutting school, lying to her aunt, her best friend, even the police The only person she can't lie to is new boy Jesse, whose brutal honesty is a welcome respite from the mountain of misinformation uncovered by her investigation.
Faith's investigation takes her through the myriad back alleys of Philadelphia, all the way to one of the most powerful scientists in the city. But when the medical examiner's body is found in the Schuylkill River, Faith realizes if she doesn't find out who's behind the sinister science and its cover-up, she could be next.
Excerpt
The only good junkie is a dead junkie. They’re at the bottom of everything. Down there with hookers and drunks. When a junkie dies, no one investigates. They call it an overdose and close the book.
I should know. My mom was one.
The day after my sixteenth birthday there she was, my mother, dead on the bathroom floor. Just out of the shower. Her hair still wet. I remember that. Thinking if her hair was wet, she couldn’t be dead.
But she was dead, and just like that, the only thing left of my mother was her stuff. I called Aunt Theresa, then the cops. An officer poked around our apartment and scribbled a few notes. Heroin overdose was listed as the official cause of death. Of course. Mom was a junkie. What else would she die of? Everyone bought the story.
Everyone except me.
Professional Reviews
Sarah Lovett, author, Dark Alchemy
Death Spiral is a powerful, riveting debut. I love Faith Flores—she’s 16, whip-smart, gritty, tenacious and real. I’m hooked and I can’t wait for
the next in Chodosh’s series."
—Sarah Lovett, author of Dark Alchemy
In a vertical city divided between those above the mist and those below it, four strangers are drawn together as failing systems threaten everyone. To save Halidom, they'll have to cross boundaries, uncover forgotten technology, and repair more than
