THE SOLID GOLD KID

by Norma Fox & Harry Mazer ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 25, 1977

This first collaboration by the Mazers is less of a novel than we've come to expect from either, but it is a well-paced suspense story with a believably varied cast and enough close interaction to give the adventure a little more than plot interest. The central character is superrich Derek Chapman, and very early on he is kidnapped from near his prep school along with four relatively poor townies who just happen to be waiting at the same bus stop. The kidnappers, a man and a woman, are brutal and increasingly desperate, and the five teenagers--one black, two female--alternately bear up, bicker, scheme, despair, and even neck (if that's what you call it when your hands are tied behind your back) as they are beaten, imprisoned, shot at and shifted from a speeding van to an isolated cabin to a burning boathouse to a remote water tower. . . . Overall the other four are less bitter than they might be toward Derek, whose Dad in the end provides them with medical care and college trust funds at the snap of a finger; and though the experience gives Derek a sense of identity apart from his powerful father, his social consciousness doesn't develop much beyond the early conviction that his wealth is ""not his fault."" But if The Solid Gold Kid never reaches The Dollar Man's level of humanity, the focus here is on the thrill of the ride and the tensions among the captives.

Pub Date: April 25, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Delacorte

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1977

Categories: FICTION