Kid Alone

October 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-Garvie Smith, a sarcastic teen with a photographic memory, has a record IQ and is a notorious slacker. When a schoolmate is murdered at the nearby industrial estate, Garvie calculates the minimum effort to expend on school and turns his attention to the case instead. He extends his aid to the police, regardless of whether they want it, creating more problems than solutions in the process. The teen's personal life begins interfering with his would-be detective work; school exams and a new crush all hinder his focus. Staying one step ahead of the police, Garvie is determined to find the killer. This second installment takes place in the same gritty urban setting as the first and again, though incredibly apathetic, Garvie is committed to solving the murder. This entry has all the elements of a classic mystery as well as aspects particularly suited to teens. Police interviews and various conversations are presented as interrogation notes, prompting readers to search for clues. And although Garvie observes small details and deduces important information from them, he keeps those thoughts to himself, compelling teens, along with secondary characters, to try solving the puzzle on their own. VERDICT A Holmes-inspired Afro-Caribbean protagonist, diverse supporting cast, twisty mystery, and text with enough sass to keep readers guessing and entertained combine to create a must-read sequel.-Maggie Mason Smith, Clemson University, SC

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2017
Garvie Smith, the underachieving teen detective, returns in a new mystery with more murder, dangerous intrigue, and highly inconvenient exams. Fans of Running Girl (2016) will find the mixed-race amateur sleuth and company much the same in this direct sequel, in which Pyotor Gimpel, a Polish boy with Asperger's who also attends Garvie's school, is found shot to death in a storage facility. True to form, Garvie abandons his already-small inclination to complete his exams, jeopardizing his future prospects, in order to solve this far more interesting whodunit puzzle, even as the recently demoted Sikh D.I. Singh tries in vain to keep Garvie out of it. Where Mason has added some depth to several aspects of Garvie's world, including a closer look at his relationship with his Barbadian mother (his white father has abandoned the family), much of this sequel has disappointingly managed to outpace the problems of the first installment. The inclusion of a neurodivergent character as a murder victim, whose homicide is only solvable due to the particular behavioral manifestations of his autism-spectrum disorder, smacks of lip-service representation and lazy craft reliant on stereotype shorthand. Confusing elements such as the misrepresentation of Polish ethno-nationality as a racial identity also muddy the waters, and the juxtaposed-but-unexplored relationships of several different (Polish, Pakistani, Bajan) immigrant-family dynamics feel like a missed opportunity in a narrative where diverse cultural tensions are so largely at play. Second swing and a hard miss. (Mystery. 13-17)

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