“My life is a high-wire act looking down at the world, and the people below are like distant data sets. Well, those data sets are leaping up to bite me in the butt, forcing me to fall smack into the chaos below.”

Kami’s character is a teen genius aiming for MIT. She doesn’t relate to people and often gives them nicknames of her own devising. For her science project she gathers scraps of meaningful pieces of her life (concert tickets, letters) and stuffs them in her locker with a color coded marble for her “chaos theory” experiment. Everyday she opens her locker she literally waits for another ball to drop. One small change can significantly effect the future (think Butterfly Effect) and Kami struggles to grasp how she can define that in just a locker.

Enter: Daniel. He’s known around school as the boy who killed his sister with drugs. When Kami accidentally gets involved with him, something just doesn’t add up in her logical mind and she can’t let go of the mystery behind the boy.

Sandy is Kami’s best friend, probably the only one who knows and understands every side of her. Sandy’s theatre work and gossip network makes her a more than competent part of the team.

Sam is Sandy’s boyfriend and a reporter for the newspaper. His inquisitive nature and sleuthing skills of his own help him join in the ranks.

But (thank goodness) this isn’t a story about teenagers trying to take down drug dealers on their own. Kami’s little group work with Daniel’s handler, Detective Bob, to figure out the truth behind Julia’s death and the drugs found with her.

As the story moves on the chaos theory experiment becomes less about the locker and expands into the real world as Kami herself is gaining more knowledge of people as humans and not just data points. The group learns how each small and seemingly unimportant change in Julia’s life ultimately contributed to the end.

Overall, I suggest this book to anyone who likes young adult mystery/crime novels with a small mixture of romance. I’m most defiantly waiting for another Kami File. ( )

Kami is into horses and martial arts, but mostly science. So much so that she has a chaos theory in her locker.

Daniel is the new kid at school, the bad boy drug dealer who just lost his sister due to her overdosing on his drugs.

When their paths cross Kami can't help but see something in Daniel that no one else sees. He doesn't seem like a criminal much less a drug dealer. When Kami starts digging into his sisters death she realizes that things just don't add up.

With the help of her two best friends Kami sets out to prove Daniels innonce and prove to herself that she's not wrong about how she feels for him.

I have to be honest, I did not think I was going to like this book, I kept putting it off, moving it further and further down my TBR pile until it finally hit the bottom of the stack. But from the first chapter I realized I had a made a mistake.

"Chaos Theory" is the perfect young adult mystery, it has everything needed to keep you on the edge of your seat, holding your breath.

I really enjoyed Kami's story and I hope that perhaps we'll see more of her in the future.

Until next time,
Ginger

In compliance with FTC guidelines I am disclosing that this book was given to me for free to review.
My review is my honest opinion. ( )

Chaos Theory (The Kami Files) by M. Evonne Dobson is a young adult crime novel. Kami is a seventeen year old girl is loves science. She is conducting a “chaos theory” experiment in her locker. Kami tends to be oblivious to other things going on around her, she likes martial arts, and likes to solve problems or find answers. Daniel is the new boy in school. He had been in military school until he was arrested for drugs (according to the school grapevine). Daniel’s sister, Julia, committed suicide with drugs and Daniel claimed the drugs belonged to him. Daniel gets arrested and is turned into a confidential informant in order to get the people who are actually obtaining the drugs. Something does not add up for Kami when she hears this story. As she gets to know Daniel, Kami is determined to find out what happened to Julia. So Kami, Sandy (Kami’s BFF), Sam (Sandy’s boyfriend), Gavin (boy who is interested in Kami) and Daniel start to investigate along with help from the local police (these kids actually ask for help). This book is hard to get into. It is very disjointed at the beginning and jumps from one scene to the next. As you get further into the book, the scenes flow better and it is easier to read. Once I got further into the book, I enjoyed reading it and wanted to find out how things were going to turn out. It is a good mystery, but very easy to solve. I think with a little bit more editing (at the beginning), this could be a very good book and the beginning of a great series. Chaos Theory will be out February 3, 2015.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from NetGalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Full review to come! ( )