The Big Splash

Starred review from September 15, 2008
The seventh-grader version of a Raymond Chandler PI, Matt Stevens coolly navigates the mean streets (okay, the mean hallways) of Franklin Middle School in a first novel with an ingenious premise: junior high noir. Matt's classmate, the once-bullied Vinny Biggio, commands a whole “organization,” complete with hit men, in this case boys and girls who use loaded squirt guns, stealth attacks and their peers' predictable responses (choruses of “Jimmy peed his pants!”) to ensure their targets' permanent and total ostracism. The plot has to do with the spectacular takedown of one Nicole Finnegan, aka Nikki Fingers, the school's most feared “trigger-girl,” that is, until her recent retirement from Vinny's operation. Just who ordered the hit on Nikki, and why? Twists and curve balls keep readers guessing; extended jokes like one about a petty thief's desperate need for cash (“On the surface, Peter was a happy-go-lucky model student, but underneath, he had a dirty little secret: He was a Pixy Stixer”) will keep them laughing. With crisp prose and surprisingly poignant moments, Ferraiolo's debut entertains on many levels. Ages 10–14.

Seventh-grade private eye Matt Stevens navigates Franklin Middle School with a weary cynicism worthy of Philip Marlowe. Matt ferrets out a water pistol sniper in a story as ruthless as a seventh-grade cafeteria. Narrator Sean Schemmel nails this one. Teenage criminal kingpin Vinny boasts a raspy menace. Hall monitor Katie, drunk on power, dominates her scenes with brute force. Throughout Schemmel presents Matt as a clever character seeking justice in a world gone wild. Listeners will shiver when Schemmel reproduces the giggles and screams of the victims. Mild cursing adds a startling, if realistic, effect. THE BIG SPLASH triumphs as an edgy detective story reminiscent of film noir. C.A. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine