This is a truly awful book. It is poorly written, boring, unrelatable, completely unaware of its audience and sometimes downright offensive.
Right from the start I found the book hard to get into. The author uses incomplete sentences, which doesn’t read as “style” it reads as really bad, choppy writing. There are other errors throughout which make you wonder if perhaps the editor hated the book as well and just wanted it to look as bad as possible. I was also annoyed by the obnoxious explanation of phrases, for example “blind alley – an alley you can go into, but there is no way out of.”
Oh right. The reason I was reading this in the first place? The character with Asperger Syndrome? Well, she’s not in the book all that often and our narrator doesn’t think that much of her. While some characteristics that are typical of people with Asperger Syndrome are mentioned, you never really get a feel of what that means to Verity. Although her nickname “duchess” evidently comes from how she carries herself, much more formally than other children.
Of course, she’s not the narrator, because it takes a lot of talent to write from the perspective of a character with Asperger’s. No, the narrator is an adult male, which means that the opinions expressed and tone taken are not easy for children to connect with. When you add in the fact that he’s not a particularly good person (he’s late on his rent, has been thrown off the police force for badmouthing his superiors and is trying to extort money from the parents of a missing child), you’re looking at a narrator that is also a really bad role model.
Just in case you were hoping for a silver lining, there is none. The book is actually offensive in parts. The author seems to have an unhealthy relationship with weight because characters’ weights are discussed throughout the books despite being irrelevant. Ranging from a woman who is “probably a little heavier than when she was married, but not too much” to a man who has a “load of lard on his bones that would have slowed down a bear,” there are a lot of negative weight messages. Of course, there’s some old-fashioned sexism to spice things up when a man observes that a girl can’t throw well and remarks “what good’s a girl who can throw a ball – who needs it?” One of Verity’s friends who is perhaps a bit socially awkward is constantly referred to by the narrator as a nerd. Winning remarks include “”Nerd just kept on nerding.” The narrator also doesn’t particularly like children. That’s what most kids are looking for in a book right? An adult narrator that doesn’t like children?
And then of course, there’s the way the author chooses to handle disabilities and neurological differences. Early in the book the narrator tells us “In my day we had a kid or two in school who was slow, but we didn’t have any fancy names for them.” Yes, because calling someone “slow” is much better than having some stupid politically correct fancy name. But it’s the moment where he he says about Verity “I knew she was handicap [sic]…” that I wrote off not only the author and editor but the publishing house as well (Allen A. Knoll, you should be ashamed). First of all, a person is never a handicap. If you are looking for a perhaps outdated phrase (and this book shouldn’t be, it was published in 2003) you may have meant that she “has a handicap” but really, you’re not supposed to say that.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – Bones tells you that he he’s had a few girlfriends, that women are supposed to be attracted to men in uniform and that he hasn’t attracted any lately. Why do we need to know this? Dr. Trexler kisses his wife upon returning home from work. Arvilla’s parents are divorced, her father left when she was five. Her mom won’t remarry because the alimony payments will stop. She has a boyfriend though, who evidently doesn’t want to raise someone else’s kid.
Profanity – “dumbest,” “Lord knows,” “dumbbells,” “God,” used in a non-religious context, “for heaven’s sakes,” “dummy,” “screwed up,” “heck,”
Death, Violence and Gore – A man admits he’s been in some fights. The book wrongly states that kidnapping across state lines is punishable by death.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Verity’s father converted a barroom to a soda fountain. “Instead of beer and whiskey they offered ice cream sodas and banana splits.” It is mentioned that ice cream is not as profitable as alcohol. He has a sign that reads “Drinking is not cool. Smoking is suicide and there are faster ways. Drugs are for dumbells.” Mr. Easterbrook drinks an alcoholic beverage.
Frightening or Intense Things –A child is missing. While most of the speculation is about kidnapping for ransom, it is mentioned that someone might have kidnapped her to hurt her.” Bones was fired, evidently for bad mouthing his bosses. He’s supposed to be a sympathetic character, but kids will have trouble with liking someone they know is doing something wrong. He’s also behind on his rent. Arvilla’s mother mentions missing a shrink appointment. They withhold info from the FBI. He speculates that it’s unlikely to find someone alive. Bones considers the possibility that a father would harm his own daughter to avoid paying child support. He also orders kids to withhold information from the police.
Good for you for slogging through so that the rest of us don’t have to- thanks!