Young Adult Book Reviews

Genre:  Realistic Fiction

# of Pages:  170 p.

RAC Book: No

Kelleigh Monahan is a teenage girl who happens to see a man drop his keys in a mall parking lot one day.  Instead of telling him and returning the keys, she keeps them.  One day she notices the man’s car a few blocks from her house and decides to take his car for a spin.  She picks up her friend and they go joy riding for awhile before returning it.  When another friend hears of this joy ride he asks her to steal the car of a class bully so that he can get back at him.  Before she knows it, she has acquired a bit of a reputation as a car thief.  When she is faced with the possibility of making some cash by stealing cars she does not immediately dismiss the idea.  Is she prepared to face jail time for this new passion?

Kelleigh does not feel like a fully developed character.  Her motivations are unclear and despite some close calls she still wants to continue in the car theft business.  The end is abrupt and many readers will feel like they were left without a concrete conclusion.  The fun and excitement of being a car thief was explored without too much of the possible negative outcomes.