Edie and her mom
have been on the run from her abusive father for years. Now they're
in London and Edie isn't happy about it. This a foreign country, and
she doesn't like it. Her new school isn't any help. On the first day
she attracts the attention of the school bully, Prescious. The only
person who is kind to her is Imogene, who Edie considers weird.
The plot revolves
around the fact that Edie's mother fails to come home from work one
morning. Edie doesn't know what to do. She's alone in a foreign
country. All she can think of is finding her mother. In this, she's
helped by Jermaine, a boy with a terrifying reputation for violence.
Most of the book
follows Edie and Jermaine's search through London for her mother.
Although the book is relatively short, I thought so much time devoted
to a search took away from getting to know the characters. Edie is
not a sympathetic character. Although she has plenty of reasons to be
unhappy, her disregard for other people shown by her distaste for the
one person who befriends her in the new school are distasteful
The ending was
predictable from the opening. It emphasized Edie's self-centered
response to the situation. She didn't think of asking for help. At
the end, she appears to have learned something about relating to
other people, but it happened very fast and didn't seem quite real.
I can't recommend
this book. It's very short and may appeal to young readers, but it's
not well crafted. Perhaps it would be more appealing if the book were
longer with more attention to character development.
I reviewed this book
for Net Galley.
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