Reef of Death

PC-- could really use your help. It's a nuthouse down here!Seventeen-year-old PC can't resist his uncle Cliff's frantic call and is soon aboard a plane to Australia. Within hours of arriving, PC realizes that his uncle has gotten himself into an even more bizarre predicament than usual, and that Cliff is counting on him to unravel the threads of a mystery linking: a missing scuba diver, presumed dead; Maruul, a beautiful Aboriginal girl suffering from amnesia; a strange map based on a legend of a sacred treasure; an eerie, seemingly deserted ship; and a huge, horrible creature that lurks in the depths beneath the reef.Trying to help the shaken young girl, PC and Cliff return to the reef where Maruul's brother vanished and take up the search for the Aboriginal treasure that will save the people of Maruul's tribe. But someone else is looking for the treasure too-and when the two groups collide, a lethal game of hideand-seek is played out beneath the deep and bloody waters of the reef.Seventeen-year-old PC McPhee is intrigued with the bizarre details of a deadly mystery'a missing scuba diver, a hidden treasure, a seemingly deserted ship, a corrupt scientist, a beautiful girl suffering from amnesia, and a deadly creature prowling the depths of an Australian reef. PC is convinced that these are all strange pieces to a dangerous puzzle. When he teams up with a beautiful girl, Maruul, he soon realizes that they are in a race against time to solve this mystery if they are to save her Aboriginal village'and their own lives. Paul Zindel has created a spine-tingling adventure that will thrill readers with its startling events. Young Adult's Choices for 2000 (IRA)

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9?Set along Australia's Great Barrier Reef, this page-turning toothy-monster story is Zindel imitating Stine, a scary development. Two likable characters are gruesomely devoured by page 50, and too many others die before the pyrotechnic climax to keep an accurate count. Stereotypes abound. The evil Dr. Ecenbarger, a German scientist, is running an illegal undersea operation as a front for her real joy in life?feeding people who bother her to the various sea creatures she captures for that purpose. Maruul, a partial amnesiac who is described as having "big eyes that make you want to do things for her" is joined by PC McPhee, our hero, and Wally, a respected elder from Maruul's Aboriginal village who just happens to know quite a bit about scuba diving, personal computers, and the myths of his people. He sometimes speaks the queen's English?and then reverts to pidgin. It might be fun to read to see how many impossibilities and inconsistencies can be found, but this story is best read as pure fantasy, from PC's parents letting him rush across the Pacific to meet his "crazy uncle" (one of the first to become fish food) to the "kids win" ending, as promised in the dedication. Cartoonlike and silly.?Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Jr. High School, Iowa City, IACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Paul Zindel who won the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for The Effects of Gamma Rays On Man-In-the-Moon Marigolds,once again draws upon his scientific background for Reef Of Death. His most recent books for Harper Collins include The Doom Stone and Loch, both Recommended books for the Reluctant YA Reader (ALA), and the tragicomic memoir The Pigman & Me. The Pigman & Me was both a 1993 ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a 1993 ALA Notable Children's Book. Mr. Zindel lives in Montague, New Jersey.

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