Half Life by Lillian Clark

Lucille agrees to be cloned. If this were in the future in a technologically advanced society, that might not be surprising. But it is not. This story is set in a world like ours, right now. A high tech company reaches out to Lucille, a high school student, to be a test subject, and she agrees to do it (without her parents' knowing). 

Lucille is a very busy, serious student. She is known as an overachiever. Working so hard means, she has to make sacrifices - the kind of things that make you more fun to be around. So Lucille imagines the second version of her will give her more time to do fun things. Her clone can go to school, and no one will ever know the difference. 

You've probably already guessed that it doesn't work out the way she hopes it will. Her clone (Lucy) is not a robot. She has feelings and (oddly enough) different interests. Also, the tech company considers Lucy property that it will take back after a month. Ethical dilemmas abound, but for awhile Lucille is only concerned about herself and her new found freedom.

At it's core, this story is about a teen who tries to make her life easier and ends up in a much bigger situation than she imagined. It is livened up with the problems of trying to keep the clone a secret and the related ethical issues. It's best not to get bogged down in the science of creating such a clone and the other plot issues. If you accept the premise as is, then this book is worth your time. 

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site. 

Immoral Code by Lillian Clark

I started reading this because I thought it would be a suspenseful story of teens planning and carrying out a heist. It is that, but it is much more a tale of friends on the verge of heading off to college and ultimately going their separate ways; Each one has their own motives for risking everything to help a friend secure the money to go to MIT.

Bellamy has never met her father. He has lead a life acquiring great wealth and another family. Bellamy and her mother scrape by. When his fortune is figured into her financial aid application, Bellamy can't even get a loan. And she sure can't ask her father for money. So what is Bellamy to do?

In steps her best friend Nari, a total computer genius, who has an idea about skimming money from Bellamy's father's numerous accounts a little at a time. To pull it off, they need their other friends: Reese (artist extraordinaire), Santiago (future Olympic diver, he hopes) and Keagan (Nari's boyfriend).

What I like most about this book is how the characters are written. They are not teen stereotypes. We know their motivations and complexities. We also see them disagree about the illegal act they are planning. Keagan doesn't like it. Even though he goes along, his reservations never go away completely. The five teens have unique relationships with every other person in the group. They argue; they support each other; they rely on one another.

Even though, this story was not the intense caper I was hoping, I enjoyed it for the strong teen characters.

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site.