Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins; Scholastic, 400 pages ($17.99).

Collins offers another thrill ride in this action-packed, bloody second installment of her blockbuster "Hunger Games" trilogy. Set in a bleak future world, the Hunger Games are an annual televised fight-to-the-death in a vast, booby-trapped arena of 24 teenagers from every district in the land. The author has an interest in Greek mythology and says her trilogy was inspired by the myth of Theseus and the youths who were sent into a labyrinth to be eaten by the Minotaur. Its a teen version of the sci-finovel "Running Man" by Richard Bachman (Stephen King), which was made into a movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Our heroes Katniss and Peeta—who broke the rules by saving each other from death in the first book—are back and under constant media surveillance over their supposed marriage plans. Then the spooky President Snow pays a visit. While the early part of the book gets a bit bogged down in the love triangle of Katniss, her childhood love Gale and her affection for Peeta, the action picks up as rumbles of rebellion are heard and the Capitol cracks down on security. Then there is a surprise announcement about who the combatants will be in the Quarter Quell (anniversary games). Collins manages to surpass the first book with a game setup that offers even more dramatic possibilities than the first, an interesting group of new characters and ever-more inventive ways to kill people.

—Jean Westmoore

Bloodhound: Beka Cooper Book 2 (A Tortall Legend) by Tamora Pierce (Random House, 560 pages. ($18.99)

Tamora Pierce Fans, and those who haven't read her, are in for a treat even if starting with this

16th novel set in the magical realm of Tortall. This is the second book of a trilogy, told in the first-person

and set hundreds of years before the books featuring her popular heroine, Alanna.

"Bloodhound" is a gripping, beautifully written and well-crafted fantasy

featuring a fierce young heroine, with knives hidden in her boots and a spike in her braid,

who, as a Dog or police officer, normally battles run-of-the-the-mill criminals

but here is recruited to investigate a silver counterfeiting scheme that threatens to

bring down the kingdom.

Pierce uses vivid language to create a wonderful realism in this complex world

with its taverns (Beka prefers barley water and nonalcoholic cider twilsey),

alleys, sewer tunnels and prisons (where primitive punishments include

waterboarding or getting a hand chopped off and the stump dipped in boiling oil).

The author deftly blends this realism of landscape and economics with marvelous fantasy elements.

There are magic spells for healing, locking doors and even for contraception.

In a long cast of colorful characters, the Rogue Pearl is a memorable and truly terrifying villain.

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen, Viking, 383 pages ($16.99)

A new Sarah Dessen is always a cause for celebration. The author was inspired to write this

poignant page-turner, she says, when she was awake at night with her new baby, saw a light

in the distance "and wondered who else was up and why.

This marvelous book chronicling the nocturnal wanderings of 18-year-old Auden is the happy result.

The high-achieving daughter of two academics, Auden hasn't had a full night's sleep since her parents

divorce two years before. She spends all her time trying to please her demanding mother, giving up prom,

friendships, every "normal, adolescent experience.

On impulse, she decides to spend the summer before college in a beach town with her father,

his new wife and their newborn. Auden stumbles in her first social interactions in her new environment

but gradually becomes friends with her co-workers at her stepmothers funky clothing store.

Without one false step in dialogue or scene, Dessen creates a smart heroine

who embarks on a voyage of self-discovery that will teach her to look at her parents, her peers and herself in a new light.

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams, St. Martin's Griffin, 213 pages ($16.95)

An acclaimed author from Utah offers a pulse-pounding, poignant and unique coming-of-age novel

in this page-turning thriller told from the perspective of a 13-year-old girl who has grown up in a polygamous cult.

Kyra has never thought too much about the fact that her father has three wives and she has 20 brothers and sisters.

But she is aware that there is a world outside their fenced and guarded compound, beyond the reach of

the black-uniformed "God Squad, that enforces the prophet's commands.

Kyra has a crush on a boy her own age and dreams about a life with him.

Then the prophet decrees that she must marry her 60-year-old uncle, a harsh man who

already has six wives, and Kyra must wrestle with her desire to save herself and her fear

of the unknown that awaits outside the compound. The author paints a vivid portrait of this separate world,

of loving relationships that exist between family members along with a chilling examination of the psychological

terror and physical abuse practiced to silence any independent thought. Most of all, the author puts a face

on young girls everywhere who are denied choices and forced into sexual slavery by old men.

SUMMER READING LIST: Even as school starts, here is our list of fantastic reads:

Suspense:

Reality Check by Peter Abrahams. Harper Collins/Harper Teen.

A football star sidelined by injury crosses the country to search for his ex-girlfriend when she goes missing at her exclusive Vermont boarding school. A terrific blend of suspense and romance.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Scholastic.

Catching Fire, the eagerly awaited sequel to this page-turner about a televised competition to the death between 12 to 18-year-olds in a post-apocalyptic world, comes out this week.

Swim the Fly by Don Calame. Candlewick Press. To impress a hot girl on the swim team, scrawny Matt volunteers to swim in the grueling butterfly competition and in the process learns valuable lessons about friendship, character and romance.

VAMPIRES

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey. Houghton Mifflin.

Fans of the Twilight saga might want to check out this smart and funny vampire romance between Jessica Packwood and a Romanian vampire prince, who shows up one day at her Pennsylvania high school and creates all kinds of chaos.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks. Harcourt.

Sickly, aging vampires who drink guinea pig blood and annoy each other in a support group star in this offbeat, funny murder mystery from the Australian author of Evil Genius.

Highway to Hell by Rosemary Clement-Moore. Random House/Delacorte Press.

This third book in a series features thrilling suspense, colorful characters and wry humor reminiscent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Maggie and Lisa are headed on a road trip for spring break when their jeep runs into a cow carcass, launching them into a hunt for whatever is terrorizing a remote desert ranch.

Find the American Library Association list of best Young Adult books at www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/bbya.