Streams of Babel was a very entertaining novel. It had so many different genres in one story. I discovered this book after reading a book by the same author, Carol Plum-Ucci who is a well known young adult author. Her most famous book is The Body of Christopher Creed, a mystery novel. She is recognized for the suspenseful themes in her writing. That definitely sticks with this book, a mystery that leaves some unexpected twists.
The story follows five main characters: Cora, Owen, Scott, Rain, and Shazad. Cora is a lonely high school student with no friends and a morphine addicted mother. Brothers, Owen and Scott live across the street. Scott is a paramedic in training and Owen is the popular kid at school. Rain is Owens easy going best friend. Living in Iran is Shazad, a sixteen year old virtual spy that works for the FBI. In Streams of Babel they all cross paths while trying to figure out what is going on in their neighborhood.
The setting of the book is pretty close to modern day, only a few years after 9/11. Two women die from unexpected brain aneurysms, one is the mother of Cora and the other is Scott and Owen’s mom. The doctors can’t figure out how the woman got them or what caused them. Across the country, Shazad picks up chatter from extremists talking about a virus the call Red Vinegar. While looking at their chats he finds out that they are killing people with it.
Shazad tells his advisor what’s going on but they have no way of knowing where the virus is being kept or how they are killing with it. They have to try to narrow the search down. At the same time in Cora’s small neighborhood, everyone is slowly poisoning themselves every time they take a drink of water. All of the residents are clueless to what is happening to them until more people start to get sick.

I found this novel extremely enjoyable because it had a countless amount of different components including science, mystery, friendship, love, crime, and much more. Streams of Babel revolves around a group of teenagers that come together when they are faced with death and sickness. With all of the different characters and personalities the suspense never stops.