Booklist starred (May 1, 2010 (Vol. 106, No. 17))
Grades 4-7. A brilliant, hard-nosed, and dedicated cop for being only 13 years old, Griff Carver grimly fights the good fight as a member of his new school’s Safety Patrol in this inspired, expertly spun tale. Rampart Middle School may have a shiny reputation, but, as new transfer Griff quickly discovers, it’s rotten from the principal on down. Even Delane, the patrol’s captain, is in the back pocket of flashy arch-villain and class-president-candidate Marcus Volger. Picking up allies who see through his flinty exterior—like ace reporter Verity King, bumbling but educable fellow officer Tommy Rodriguez, and Solomon, a savvy old janitor—Griff takes it on the chin more than once but comes out on top in the end, stymied in an effort to nab Volger outright but at least breaking up his counterfeit hall-pass operation in a spectacularly destructive climax. Pitch perfect from start to finish (“The donuts tasted like papier-mache, only less sweet and harder to chew”) veteran TV writer Krieg’s fiction debut will have even the most hardboiled whodunit fans rolling in the aisles. Expect sequels, and hope they come soon.
Grades 4-7. A brilliant, hard-nosed, and dedicated cop for being only 13 years old, Griff Carver grimly fights the good fight as a member of his new school’s Safety Patrol in this inspired, expertly spun tale. Rampart Middle School may have a shiny reputation, but, as new transfer Griff quickly discovers, it’s rotten from the principal on down. Even Delane, the patrol’s captain, is in the back pocket of flashy arch-villain and class-president-candidate Marcus Volger. Picking up allies who see through his flinty exterior—like ace reporter Verity King, bumbling but educable fellow officer Tommy Rodriguez, and Solomon, a savvy old janitor—Griff takes it on the chin more than once but comes out on top in the end, stymied in an effort to nab Volger outright but at least breaking up his counterfeit hall-pass operation in a spectacularly destructive climax. Pitch perfect from start to finish (“The donuts tasted like papier-mache, only less sweet and harder to chew”) veteran TV writer Krieg’s fiction debut will have even the most hardboiled whodunit fans rolling in the aisles. Expect sequels, and hope they come soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment