We Will Be Crashing Shortly

April 15, 2015
The sequel to Unaccompanied Minor (2014) delivers another round of in-the-air shenanigans for would-be airline heiress April Mae Manning. Gillespie starts her story in medias res, as April explains to readers that she may have shot Mr. Hackman, but she did not decapitate him. She quickly flashes back to her driver's-license road test, which is derailed when she sees her best friend, Malcolm, in the middle of being kidnapped by, among others, her no-good stepfather. In short order, April and the good-hearted crew of adults she rallied in her first outing are busy finding corpses, running from the law, and stowing away on the very L-1011 that was bombed only a few months before. The plot setup here is convoluted and sporadic, the introduction of new characters adding variety but also complexity that impedes focus. April's voice continues to charm, her dedication to the wisdom within the WorldAir flight-attendant onboard manual a throughline that both binds the story together and saves April's skin over and over. Her surveys of flight-attendant history are trenchant and illuminating, as in her discussion of 1960s-era "secret spawning wards...full of [pregnant] stewardesses trying to keep their circumstances on the down-low so they could retain their jobs." Despite turbulence, an amusing airline-industry thriller that informs as it entertains. (Thriller. 12-16)

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May 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-A fast-paced sequel to Unaccompanied Minor (Merit, 2014). April Mae Manning, otherwise known as "Crash" once again finds herself in the middle of a series of crazy events. The teen discovers that her best friend was kidnapped during her driver's test and recruits her unlikely crew of sidekicks to find the missing girl. Plane crashes, MacGyver moves, and FBI interrogations ensue. Like a teen version of Janet Evanovich's "Stephanie Plum" series (Bantam) because of its implausibility and pure entertainment value, this series entry is action-packed and fast paced. Gillespie, the author of a humor blog, writes funny dialogue, but April's perspective is too sarcastic and jaded to ring entirely true. As in the first book, this work has a ton of aviation-related trivia and facts along with all kinds of survival tips, which may interest some readers. VERDICT An additional purchase for most libraries.-Sarah Wilsman, Kent Free Library, Kent, OH

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