Not Even Bones, written by Rebecca Schaeffer, reviewed by Anneliese White

Summary: Dark, gruesome, and enthralling, “Not Even Bones,” tells the story of teenager Nita, who lives in a world of zannies, people with unnatural abilities, and other “monsters.” Many of these creatures have much value in a horrific manner- their body parts are valuable to others. She loves what she does- dissecting bodies for parts to be sold for her mom’s business- but struggles with the ethics of dissecting live bodies. Everything in her world changes when her merciless mother brings home a teenaged boy to be dissected slowly piece by piece, while still being kept alive. Nita’s conscious gets the best of her, and helping the boy escape quickly catapults into Nita being kidnapped herself, and becoming a prisoner on the black market for HER body parts. Nita is special too in that she is able to What ensues is a mission to escape a world even darker than she imagined, while also changing Nita’s own morality during the process.

Straight Talk for Librarians: This is dark with a capital D. I still loved it and mature teens will too. It describes violence and removal of body parts in a very graphic and nonchalant way, but even as an adult reader, it made me cringe and look away from the pages. Librarians should know it does contain some mature language and even references purchasing handcuffs from a sex store, but it would be an automatic add to any library that has teens who are sophisticated readers. The ending has quite the cliffhanger, and I was slightly giddy to discover that this is book one in a trilogy, so I can still continue Nita’s intriguing story. The author does a phenomenal job of creating a fascinating storyline with such original characters that it is hard to put down. This novel perhaps could be used for an ethics discussion with students on organs being used from deceased donors, as well as discussions on how difficult and traumatic moments in a person’s life can change their outlook and behaviors.