McDonald’s latest starts with a bang when four teenage criminals express their rage by trashing a local souvenir shop, then setting it on fire. Their crime is compounded when the niece of the proprietor rushes toward the fire, getting nearer and nearer to a propane tank that is about to blow. Leaving the reader in suspense, the novel then backtracks, detailing the sad histories of these four teenage delinquents, each of whom comes from a dysfunctional family. There’s Hollis, a coldhearted mastermind; Alec, a creepy loser with a criminal past; Gabriel, whose family fell apart after his brother’s murder; and Lydia, the daughter of a paranoid survivalist. Fast-paced and instantly absorbing, the book cuts between the various characters, depicting their complex psychological connections to each other and explaining how chance, circumstance, dumb luck, and wrongheaded decision-making led them to become lawbreakers. The fifth perspective comes from the more-together Gem, the niece of the storeowner and the book’s catalyst. Although McDonald (Swallowing Stones, 1997, etc.) has great sympathy and understanding for her angry, troubled characters, the book, which ends with a surprising punch line, is at heart a cautionary tale. It lays out a scenario in which good kids (two of the four offenders are basically decent) can, by taking incremental, even justifiable steps, stray so far from the boundaries of civilized, lawful behavior that there is no pulling back, no avoiding catastrophe, and no hope for a life without criminal penalties. Something to think about. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-385-32662-9
Page Count: 281
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
Well-written and entertaining.
In this exciting if somewhat implausible detective story, seventh-grader Jeremy becomes involved in the investigation surrounding the murder of his family’s dog-walker.
Even though Digger, Jeremy’s bloodhound, enthusiastically tracks down the killer, the case remains open. What was the underlying motive for a seemingly random stabbing in the park? Detective Joe Perillo suspects that a drug cartel may be behind the crime, but needs proof. After Jeremy’s mom unaccountably allows him to accompany Joe on his investigations, Jeremy becomes hooked, and can’t stop sleuthing on his own–especially when he begins discovering useful leads. Despite stern warnings that he could endanger both himself and Digger, he sneaks back into the apartment of the primary suspect, where the inevitable happens. Jeremy and Digger are appealing characters and the author effectively builds the suspense as Jeremy investigates the suspect’s apartment. Though a bit more violent than most mysteries for this age group, this is quality detective fiction that will have special appeal for the reluctant teen reader.
Well-written and entertaining. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2006
ISBN: 0-595-41011-1
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A girl’s interest in family history overlaps a coming-of-age story about her vestigial understanding of her mother after death, and her own awareness of self and place in the world. Junior high-school student Carrie Schmidt identifies strongly with the missing girls of 1967’s headlines about runaways. Carrie’s mother is dead and she has just moved in with her grandmother, Mutti, who embarrasses her with her foreign accent and ways. Carrie’s ideal is her friend Mona’s mother, a “professional” who dresses properly, smells good, and knows how to set out a table; readers will grasp the mother’s superficiality, even though Carrie, at first, does not. Mutti has terror in her past, and tells Carrie stories of the Jews in WWII Vienna, and of subsequent events in nine concentration camps; these are mined under the premise that Carrie needs stories for “dream” material and her interest in so-called lucid dreaming, a diverting backdrop that deepens the story without overwhelming it. Mutti’s gripping, terrible tales and the return of an old friend who raised Carrie’s mother when she was sent to Scotland at age nine awaken in Carrie a connection to her current family, to her ancestry, and, ultimately, to a stronger sense of self. This uncommon novel from Metzger (Ellen’s Case, 1995, etc.) steps out of the genre of historical fiction to tell a story as significant to contemporary readers as to the inhabitants of the era it evokes. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-670-87777-8
Page Count: 194
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
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