Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Hit and Run
Fiction Series
For ages 12 and up
Lerner, 2014 ISBN: 978-1467726115
Four years ago Mike’s mother was killed by a hit and run driver. The police investigated the incident, but the person responsible for her death was never found. Ever since then Mike has been living with his uncle Billy who is only ten years older than Mike. Billy likes to party, is unreliable, and he certainly has no idea how to be a responsible adult who is the guardian of a teenage boy. In many ways Mike is more mature than Billy is; Mike has an after-school job, he can cook basic meals, and he knows that he has to finish school if he doesn’t want to end up like Billy.
Mike is not doing well at school and when he ditches a history class, the teacher, Riel, gets involved. Mike finds out that Riel was the policeman who worked on his mother’s case. Now Riel is a teacher, but he wishes that he had been able to close Mike’s mother’s case. Riel tells Mike everything he knows about the case, and Mike starts asking questions. He wants to know what happened to his mother. He needs to know.
Mike is a very close to a boy called Vin, whom he has known since they were both in kindergarten. Unfortunately, Vin doesn’t always use his head when he makes decisions, and one day he decides that he, Mike, and their friend Sal should steal some baked goods out of the back of a van. Mike does not want to go along with Vin and Sal’s plan, but he ends up taking some cupcakes anyway. Mike ends up throwing the cupcakes away and is not able to enjoy the fruits of their theft because he is a genuinely good person who helps elderly neighbors and who finds stealing distasteful.
Unfortunately for the boys Mike is seen and recognized, and soon all three of them are in trouble with the police. Now Mike faces having to go to court, he loses his job, and his girlfriend gives up on him. Mike’s life has taken a very definite turn for the worse and he should be focusing on trying to turn things around, but he keeps thinking about his mother’s case. Mike starts digging for more information, even when Billy tells him to leave things alone.
This is the first book in a series of mysteries, and readers who appreciate this genre are going to thoroughly enjoy this story, which is full of surprises and interesting plot twists.
