The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady

I was in the library, looking for Amy Tan books, when my mother pulled a book off the shelf.  "The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady."  Having been radioactive for a few days myself, I couldn't not read it.  I didn't even bother to check the summary...until I checked for my mother to make sure it wasn't trash.
     This book has pretty mature themes, especially sexual abuse, but all graphic content has a clear purpose.  Sexual abuse is a difficult topic for many people, rarely discussed by many families.  As the book points out, most people envision sexual predators as strangers, when it's actually often a trusted adult.
     Each chapter is narrated in the third person omniscient following a different character.  The book is full of memorable, well-developed characters.

Spriggs Family

• Suzi:  13-year-old daughter, popular, talented goalie
• Otis:  16-year-old son, obsessed with science.  Builds a model breeder reactor in the shed behind the family home.  Becomes friends with Rusty.
• Ava:  18-year-old daughter, beautiful, obsessed with Elvis, has Asperger's Syndrome
• Vic:  Father, obsessed with following storms and developing hurricanes, working on a portfolio assessment project as part of his job at the university
• Caroline:  Mother, puts all of her energy into Ava, formerly fashionable but now sloppy
• Wilson:  Doctor who poisoned 800 pregnant women as part of a Cold War medical study

Coffey Family

• Buff:  Youth minister at Genesis Church
• Paula:  wife, former Playboy bunny, ignores her husband's sexual addiction
• Rusty:  Teenage daughter, wears black, does drugs, shoplifts, good-for-nothing boyfriend Royce who mysteriously disappears
• Angel:  4-year-old daughter

Also in the Neighborhood:

• Marylou:  Old woman, also known as Nance Archer.  Her daughter, Helen, died of cancer at age eight.
• Gigi:  Blonde, Southern, divorced, flirty, heavy drinker
• Travis:  Gigi's son, undiagnosed disorder, becomes Ava's boyfriend