Four teenagers stumble on a toxic waste spill but nobody will believe them because they come from a home for troubled youngsters....

This great adventure for young adults starts slowly with the teens distrustful of one another and the world in general. Gemma Stone uses her digital camera to snap some men clearing up the nearby creek, wearing waders and heavy gloves. Next thing she and her pal Mistie are sneaking out of their halfway house at night when they are chased by two large men and Mistie vanishes. They are in a rural area of Oxford, in Oregon, so there are not many places she could have gone. John and Doris, their guardians, are thrown off track by the arrival of two men claiming to be from the Environmental Protection Agency in Portland, but the teens all instinctively distrust them and manage to scramble out and search for Mistie. She is found drugged and tied - but why?

With Mistie in hospital the focus is on Gem and two boys, Mark and techie Reid, who are each kidnapped and struggle out of difficult situations; Mark having to swim a creek while handcuffed and ankle-bound, Gem escaping from a car at a gas station and running into a crowd of adults who - unexpectedly to her - protect her and call for aid. With repeated kidnappings the police suddenly have to take these supposed juvenile delinquents seriously, but the teens have by now bonded together and prove better than anyone at figuring out what is going on and why.

GEM STONE is a positive story about finding oneself through difficulties, and learning to work with other people. Dale Mayer has also written 'Dangerous Designs' about a rebellious girl who finds an ensorcelled pencil, which may encourage readers to switch between fantasy and contemporary fiction. I preferred GEM STONE of the two, partly because I liked the characters better, and if you know a teen who only reads about celebrities and fairytale weddings, this could be just the book they need.