Twelve, a fevered teen drama about privileged kids from Manhattan's Upper East Side
who have everything and still want more, is based on a 2002 novel written by Nick McDonell when the Manhattan-bred author was just 17. An observer at close range of the specimens he wrote about, McDonell powered his headline-grabbing book with on-the-ground authority, amping up the action with precocious bravado and pushing the mesmerizing, wreck-of-the-rich melodrama to a violent climax.