By Harlan Coben
In stores on September 18, 2012
About Seconds Away
When tragedy strikes close to home, Mickey Bolitar and his loyal new friends—sharp-witted Ema and the adorkably charming Spoon—find themselves at the center of a terrifying mystery involving the shooting of their friend Rachel. Now, not only does Mickey have to continue his quest to uncover the truth about the Abeona Shelter, the Butcher of Lodz and the mysterious death of his father, he needs to figure out who shot Rachel—no matter what it takes.
Mickey has always been ready to sacrifice everything to help the people he loves. But with danger just seconds away, how can he protect them when he’s not even sure who—or what—he’s protecting them from?
About Shelter
The stunning young adult debut from international bestseller Harlan Coben is now in paperback!
Mickey Bolitar's year can't get much worse. After witnessing his father's death and sending his mom to rehab, he's forced to live with his estranged uncle Myron and switch high schools. Fortunately, he's met a great girl, Ashley, and it seems like things might finally be improving. But then Ashley vanishes. Mickey follows Ashley's trail into a seedy underworld that reveals that Ashley isn't who she claimed to be. And neither was Mickey's father. Soon Mickey learns about a conspiracy so shocking that it leaves him questioning everything about the life he thought he knew.
About the author
Harlan Coben is the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of numerous adult novels, and the winner of the Edgar Award, Shamus Award, and Anthony Award – the first author to receive all three. His books are published in forty languages with over 47 million copies in print worldwide – and have been #1 Bestsellers in over a dozen countries. He lives in New Jersey.
My thoughts on Shelter: I happy to report that I am not as strange as I had originally thought. Looking over the reviewers of this book, it was not uncommon to pick up the book to read a couple of pages then set it down two hours later, finished and feeling satisfied. Maybe starting the book at 11:30 at night wasn't a great idea, though.
A well written book speaks for itself and this one definitely does. The protagonist is tall and nomodic Mickey who is currently living with an estranged uncle, mother in rehab and father dead as of a few months before. Mickey has spent the past 15 years traveling the world with his parents doing humanitarian work. What kind of humanitarian work? That, dear reader, is the crux of the book.
This Young Adult novel is appropriate for my children. I feel confident loaning it out to the ever-present neighborhood girl who wants a good read but I will have to answer to her mother if it isn't appropriate content. That said, slight spoiler alert, the book is about white slavery and people trafficking, although details are not provided.
Mickey is a funny and enjoyable protagonist and I thoroughly enjoyed being in his head. His sidekicks, Ema and Spoon are incredibly enjoyable, although I just remembered that Ema's story is never revealed which is now rankling me. Ah, well. I still liked her and she becomes Mickey's friend, something he hasn't had due to his Nomadic life. Spoon is hilarious.
Bottom line: Excellent story, action packed, has a social conscience (the humanitarian work), provides some historical value, excellent character development, loved the protagonist, enjoyed the high school drama and Ema, Spoon and Mickey's overall dialogue. Clean read albeit violent at times. Highly recommend.
5 Stars
Seconds Away Review under construction! But for now, let's go ahead and post this giveaway! Two lucky winners will get both books! Wahoo!
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