Library Challenge #5: Bullet Point

Title: Bullet Point

Author: Peter Abrahams

Series: N/A

Format: Hardcover

Release Date: April 27, 20010

Genre(s): YA, Mystery, Thriller

Rating:     B-

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Summary

Wyatt never really thought much about his dad—a hardened criminal, a lifer in a prison somewhere on the other side of the state. But then the economy had to go and tank, and the community had to go and cut the baseball program from Wyatt's high school. And then the coach had to go and show Wyatt a photograph of his dad at sixteen, looking very much like Wyatt himself. Through a series of unfortunate—or perhaps they were fortunate—events, Wyatt meets a crazy-hot girl named Greer with a criminal dad of her own. A criminal dad who is, in fact, in jail with Wyatt's own criminal dad. Greer arranges a meeting, and Wyatt's dad is nothing like the guy he's imagined—he's suave, and smart, and funny, and cool, and—Wyatt's pretty sure—innocent. So Wyatt decides to help him out. A decision that may possibly be the worst he's ever made in his life.

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Review

Plot: I think the plot line of this story was actually fairly interesting. I'm the kind of person that watches hours of Forensic Files and Criminal Minds. I think crime is so fascinating! Bullet Point is a book about a teenage boy, Wyatt, who's father was convicted of murder. Throughout the story, Wyatt is trying to decide if his father is guilty, or if he was convicted of a crime he did not commit. The book starts off a little slow. It was definitely much more mature than my last Abrahams book I reviewed, but it still came off a little immature to me. Even though Wyatt is roughly around my age, the book seemed geared younger still. However, the book actually picked up quite a bit! I found myself struggling to put it down. I don't want to give anything away, but the ending of the book definitely surprised me. The books was fairly predictable but within the last 50 pages or so, everything completely turns around and shocks you.

Character: I liked Wyatt quite a bit actually! He seemed like a very realistic character. He showed emotions and reactions like any normal teenage boy in his situation would. He was a bit moody, but he wasn't over the top or annoying about it. I did get annoyed at Greer a few times. She just seemed like a melodramatic girl. She was always mad at Wyatt or doing something behind his back. In the end, I did like her as a character, but she could be a handful sometimes.

Cover: There are some books I pick up at the library and think "ooh this will be fun to read" and some I pick up and sigh sadly. This was somewhere inbetween. It wasn't quite as bad as the sweet-16-annoyingly-middle-school-girl books they have in the YA section (which shouldn't be there in my opinion). But it didn't really seem like my type of book. Then again, I don't usually read any crime or thrillers, so that could be why.

Closing Thoughts: I'm giving this book a B- because it kept my attention too much to give it a C, but I don't want it up there with some of the better ones. I know that once I get more into the library shelves, there will be some really good stores and I want the As to be saved for those. This book was kind of boring up until the last 50 pages. However, those last 50 pages made the whole book worth it. It's a very short read so it's not like you're reading hundreds of pages just for the last section. It's something fun and interesting. If you're the kind of person that likes crime or thrillers, this would be a good pick for you. I definitely think that Abrahams did much better in this book. It shows that he is an interesting writer and can write a book without a predictable ending!

Where to find Peter Abrahams:

Website l Goodreads l 

Sweet Daydreams,

Brooke

Library Challenge #4: Behind the Curtain

Title: Behind the Curtain

Author: Peter Abrahams

Series: Echo Falls #2

Format: Hardcover

Release Date: April 25, 2006

Genre(s): YA, Mystery

Rating:     F

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Summary

Things are amiss at 99 Maple Lane. Ingrid's dad's job is in jeopardy and her brother, Ty, is getting buff—really buff—but his moodiness is making Ingrid start to wonder . . . Meanwhile, Ingrid's beloved soccer coach is replaced by an icy newcomer who seems a little too savvy to be in it for the postgame pizza. True to her hero, Sherlock Holmes, Ingrid begins fishing around to find out who's really pulling the strings in Echo Falls. But one morning, while en route to the dreaded MathFest, Ingrid is kidnapped and locked in the trunk of a car. Even if she escapes, will anyone believe her story?

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Review

Plot: The plot is a very basic YA mystery. Something doesn't seem right and Ingrid needs to get to the bottom of it. However, for being a detective, it seemed like she wasn't very good at picking up the clues. There were so many times the plot line would just drag on because she couldn't figure something out. The main part of reading mystery is to keep me on my toes and excited about what's going to happen next! That wasn't really the case with this book. The pacing was a bit slow and I didn't really cared about what happened next.

Character: I think part of the reason I disliked this book so much was really just because I couldn't connect to the main character, Ingrid. It could be because of how young she was, but I don't think that's it. I've read many books where the characters were much younger than me and I could still enjoy it. There is a similar mystery series with a girl named Gilda Joyce, and I could still enjoy those books to this day. I think that the age of a character shouldn't make the entire novel impossible to read. I just felt like for someone that's supposed to be the leading detective lady, she wasn't very smart and just annoyed me most of the time.

Cover: Even the cover of the book left me worried. Not much to say, however, it did look like a mystery book from the outside which was kind of cool. I like being able to pick up a book and say the cover looks like the book reads.

Closing Thoughts: I give this book an F and I feel very bad to do so. The problem is it was sooooo boring! And to be fair, the characters are really young and so it was hard to connect to them. But I barely even remember finishing this because this was a book I was solely finishing for the challenge. I didn't care about the characters or the plot and it was just very blah to me. I thought that maybe it was the author, but the next book I read (Bullet Point) was actually pretty good! I don't know if he was directing these two books towards different audiences or he just wrote much better in the later one, but I definitely did not enjoy Behind The Curtain, I'm sorry to say. To be fair, I never read the first in the series because I didn't realize it was part of a series. But I don't think reading the first would have made me enjoy this any more. You could possibly enjoy this if you are a younger reader, but I don't really recommend. 

Where to find Peter Abrahams:

Website l Goodreads l 

Sweet Daydreams,

Brooke