Sara Jane Rispoli is a normal sixteen-year-old coping with school and a budding romance--until her parents and brother are kidnapped and she discovers her family is deeply embedded in the Chicago Outfit (aka the mob).
Now on the run from a masked assassin, rogue cops and her turncoat uncle, Sara Jane is chased and attacked at every turn, fighting back with cold fury as she searches for her family. It's a quest that takes her through concealed doors and forgotten speakeasies--a city hiding in plain sight. Though armed with a .45 and 96K in cash, an old tattered notebook might be her best defense--hidden in its pages is the secret to "ultimate power." It's why she's being pursued, why her family was taken, and could be the key to saving all of their lives. (Blurb Via Goodreads)
{Details} Hardcover, 1st Edition, 313 pages, Published July 24th 2012 by Putnam Juvenile. Source: library
{Rating} 4/5
{Review} There's no surprises what this story is about. The blurb and the prelude spells it out plainly. But there's more to the story, it's how Sara Jane got there, to the gun, the money, the book filled with secrets, and the target on her back.
It's a story about love of family. It's about what you'd do for the people you love. It's about loyalty. It's about what someone is capable of when there is no other choice.
Sara Jane is a great, strong heroine. She's is put in an unimaginable position. She's lost, alone, afraid, in danger, but she's a strong girl. Not only can she take a licking, physically and emotionally - more than most other sixteen year old girls - she doesn't fall apart.
The beginning is slow. I picked up and put the book down several times in the first 70 or so pages as Goeglein told us about Sara Jane's family, her experiences boxing - seriously, she's a boxer - her Uncle Buddy, about who she is. I kept thinking, 'get to the action already, I want to know about the briefcase' but that background is important. It's important that we understand where she comes from, what she's seen, how she processes what happens to her and around her.
And then we got to the action. I couldn't wait to know what was going to happen next, I don't think I put the book down for more than a few minutes until I'd turned the last page. I thought it was clever, fascinating and written in a way that put me right in the action, seeing and feeling what Sara Jane felt. Although some storylines are resolved and some mysteries are solved there is so much more to Sara Jane's story.
The next book, Flicker & Burn, comes out soon. I've got an ARC (thank you very much Putnam) and I've had to restrain myself from digging in.
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