The Shadow Club was a group of "second-best" kids who were always left out of the spotlight, and managed to come up with a series of pranks. But the jokes got out of control, and people got hurt, and so the Shadow Club is no more. The members still have the bad reputation that goes along with actions like that, and whenever something nasty happens, the adults find it easiest to blame them. Jared used to be one of the leaders of the Shadow Club, and he's being blamed for the string of increasingly evil practical jokes being played on the school's new practically-perfect student, Alec Smartz. Jared is being framed -- but how to prove it? He gathers the Shadow Club back together with a new mission: find out who's behind these new pranks and protect Alec. Unfortunately, the former members one by one refuse to help, and Jared is left alone to prove his innocence by catching the real culprit, who's also attacking others besides Alec. A good suspenseful mystery! 6th grade and up. ( )