Burning Blue by Paul Griffin

Text Publishing, 2012. ISBN 9781922079145.
What's not to like about Nicole Castro? She's smart, popular and dates the best looking guy at school. She rides horses in her spare time and drives a flash car because her daddy is rich. Did I also mention she is drop dead gorgeous? Sometimes you just want to hate that kind of girl and somebody does! One day at school in a quiet corridor, someone throws acid at Nicole's face, scarring that perfect face forever.
Nicole is forced to take a break from school while she undergoes treatment but she returns regularly to meet the school counselor. In the waiting room she befriends fellow student and computer geek, Jay Nazarro. He has problems enough of his own. It's hard to recover from the humiliation of suffering an epilectic seizure complete with soiled pants in front of the whole school assembly, particularly when it's uploaded on YouTube. His mother has died and when his dad is not at work he escapes from grief with heavy drinking. However Jay decides to find out who is responsible for the attack on Nicole which sets him on a dangerous path where suspicion falls in the most unlikeliest of places.
This book is a satisfying thriller that haunts the reader to the very end. Griffin ensures that our loyalties are constantly shifting as the characters are manipulated to reveal more of their true selves. As a computer hacker, solitary and wary, Jay is reminiscent of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, with his ability to uncover relevant data to move the investigation forward. This book will appeal to anyone fascinated by understanding the motivations of those that commit crime.
Tina Cain