Vicki's Habit

The last four months of a teenage alcoholic's life recorded through the journal she writes for her social worker. Mr Jones, A promising beginning, you may think - a real attempt to tackle the problems teenagers face today? Not a bit of it. The book is short on realism and strong on sensationalism --a paperback tabloid which irritates further with its persistent use of Australian slang. Vicki, antagonistic initially and then persuaded by Mr Jones' kindness and 'brown, sincere-looking eyes', reveals the sordid secrets of her social life. These are, periodically, summarised by Jones and further reinforced by his reports to the headmaster -- just in case the reader misses the point! The book's attempts to warn fail miserably -- it titillates more than appals -- and the ending, transparently predictable, is almost hilarious. There's a need for books of this sort - is someone, somewhere, doing a better job than this?