Books with author A Bates

It’s the last week of school for seniors and Kelly has eight finals to pass—one for each class, and one for her life. Kelly’s a mechanic and she’d rather work on cars than take her tests, but she has no choice, not even when it becomes apparent someone is sabotaging her. It starts with pranks that might be simple senioritis, but why are all the pranks aimed at Kelly? Who dared touch her beloved Thunderbird? Who wants her to flunk out? And then things get really deadly…

Becky gets to spend the whole summer on a beautiful island, babysitting one little boy who is no trouble at all. It’s a dream job. There’s even a possible romance developing with the boy next door. Her employer is one strange lady who doesn’t seem to have a clue how to care for her own child, but that’s what she hired Becky for. Besides, she’s not around much so it’s not much of a problem. But the phone calls that ring and ring behind a locked door are a problem, and the accidents that no one really believes are accidental, and the rumors of who might be responsible for them. It’s not that easy to escape from an island if you don’t have a boat and are afraid of the water. Becky is stuck where she is, with a boss and a maybe boyfriend she can’t completely trust. But she’s going to have to trust someone, so she will have to choose between them if she wants to survive the summer.

In the early days of telephones a party line was one phone connection shared by several households. Then, before the internet, a party line was like a chat room by telephone where people talked instead of using the computer. Now there’s one in Mark’s town and he’s addicted to it. When you’re anonymous and invisible it’s a lot easier to talk to girls…or to eavesdrop on them. It’s an expensive habit and Mark is grounded from doing it, but he still hasn’t stopped. Local girls have been disappearing and Mark begins to suspect the disappearances are connected to the Line, maybe to the oily-voiced guy who keeps trying to get personal information from girls. Everybody lies on the Line and no one believes Mark, so he begins his own investigation. Now it’s a race between Mark and the unknown kidnapper and if Mark doesn’t win, someone he’s beginning to care about very much could be next.

Linnie, Ming and Jackson don’t like fakers, the people who cheat, lie and climb over others to get what they want. They make up a game to get back at them. The object is public humiliation, which the kids figure is appropriate retribution for cheaters. But the game goes wrong, almost as if it is playing itself. Or could someone else possibly have taken it over? When a student on their “hit” list dies, Linnie, Ming and Jackson know they have to do something to stop a game that is out of control. But how do you stop something when you can’t figure out the rules?

The parents are on vacation and Abbie and Brett have the house and the car to themselves. It should be heaven, but it doesn’t take long for the bad stuff to start happening. Someone tries to run Abbie over, and leaves bizarre and threatening notes for her. Joey’s had a harmless crush on her for years. Has it suddenly gotten out of hand? Something awful is going to happen. Abbie needs to talk with someone but not even her best friend will listen to her premonitions. Who do you turn to when you can’t trust anyone? Abbie had better figure it out because someone seriously wants her dead.

Lorrie is coming off a bad case of mono. She spent weeks at her parents’ house getting over it and is back at her beloved cottage now, being responsible and independent, finishing her senior year of high school. But she has so much work to make up and very little time to do it in. The counselor is definitely not on her side. To make things worse, her sister Melissa is coming to spend her spring break with Lorrie. Melissa is a one-woman train wreck. The pressure is on and Lorrie succumbs to temptation. Not only does she get involved with a dangerous guy, she lets him talk her into taking something to help her stay awake so she can get her schoolwork done. Pretty soon she’s in the middle of a very bad situation, one that threatens the lives of a lot of people. There doesn’t seem to be any way out, but Lorrie is trying her best to find one, and still graduate…if she’s alive.

Uncle Joe is good at losing himself but when he does it just before the social worker is due, Jessie has to take over, making it look like the four Stewart children have adequate food, clean clothes, and proper care. None of that is true, but Jessie is good at bluffing social workers. This time will be different, though. There’s a new social worker and he doesn’t bluff. This time things are worse than ever and if Jessie wants to keep the four of them together she’s going to have to learn a few new tricks—fast. Faster than Ruthie can get dirty, faster than Petey can get into trouble. Even with BoJoe’s help, things don’t look good. The kids have a few tricks left to try, though the social worker isn’t going to like them. But without Uncle Joe, they’re running out of options.

The easiest way for Mac to visit his mom in the cemetery is to trespass over the tiniest bit of Mr. Jones’s property. It leads him right to her grave. But Mr. Jones is a cranky man and this trespassing makes him even crankier! When Mac gets the brilliant idea to build a radio so he can talk to his mom in heaven, he knows exactly where he wants to put the antenna. In the tallest tree, of course. And Mr. Jones’s trees are the tallest ones in town. While Mac works on his radio, his friend JoJo is having a few issues with some bones (JoJo has a few issues anyway!) and his other friend, Cheemee, has plans Mr. Jones might not like, too. The boys are just trying to enjoy their summer, but they’re going to be in big trouble with Mr. Jones before their adventures are over!

Kerry is good at running, both long distance and away from her problems. With divorced parents, life is easier that way. If you just leave, the problem is solved. Or at least she doesn’t have to deal with it anymore. But Kerry has a chance for a track scholarship to college if she sticks around. Sticking around means becoming a part of things, getting involved, caring, and that’s when things start getting strange. A little boy has disappeared, and someone is leaving Kerry disgusting gifts. Instead of helping, the cop on the case asks her out. Kerry would just leave but she’s tired of running away and this time, she does get involved—a decision that may cost her more than she’s willing to pay. Because she has become the next target.