If you’ve been keeping up with my posts, you’d know the last one was Gordon Korman’s The Juvie Three, which is about three boys in Juvie who get a second chance. I decided that I’m going to continue with my teen criminal streak with a great book from a great author. I decided to keep it up with Brian James’s Thief. This is an exhilarating tale of a girl caught up in the crimes of her new life. Until things happen that send her life spiraling does she realize she has to escape.
Elizabeth, but only called Kid, is a teen that is in the foster care system. Her mother died when she was younger, and she’s been on her own ever since. In the foster care home she’s been in for a while, there’s Alexi, her 17 year old foster sister, who is her best friend. They look out for each other and they don’t trust anyone else. Alexi has also promised Kid that she will adopt her and take her away to California when she’s 18.
The reason they are so eager to get away is Sandra, their foster mother. Sandra is a cruel woman who doesn’t care about Kid or Alexi; she just wants the money from Social Services. She also doesn’t allow them to attend school, but instead makes them wander the streets of New York as pickpockets. They are supposed to collect a certain amount every day, $100 give or take. After this amount, they get to keep the money them steal. They aren’t given food or supplies; they have to get it on their own.
Kid is completely sick of this life, but she has no complaints about it. That is until Sandra is forced to take in another foster kid. This time it’s a boy, Dune. He is clumsy and a horrible pickpocket; Sandra sees him as useless, but Kid teaches him and he soon learns how to pickpocket. He also starts to get close with Kid, which causes problems with Alexi because she believes Dune is stealing Kid from her. Alexi hates Dune, but Kid likes him; Kid has to ‘choose between them’, but she doesn’t know if she can.
Kid and Dune decide to run away, to escape the madness with Sandra and their circle of crime and punishment. They decide that as long as their together, they can make it. But Sandra wants her pickpockets back, and she called the police. In a daring attempt to escape, Dune and Kid go through a circus of events that leave them closer, but in a hard position. Brian James made a masterpiece of the New York crime scene that involves a horrifying story about the kids left behind.
RED’S ALL STAR RATING: 4 out of 5 stars. The gripping scenes of chases and escapes are entrancing and I enjoyed every minute of it. Another great book by the fabulous Brian James.
MASS APPEAL: anyone and everyone should read this book. It has action and romance and struggle; everything a teen finds fascinating.
Click here! to buy this book on Amazon!
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