The story: When Julep's father, who's been teaching her the business of the con for years, goes missing, he leaves a trail of clues that will explain the reasons and help her find him. Julep has to use all her grifting skills to follow the trail--and has to involve several friends at her exclusive private school to help her. But when the trail leads straight into the arms of the Ukrainian mob, even best friend Sam's hacking skills and hottie-boyfriend-wannabe Tyler's family political connections may not be enough to keep her from following her dad's example...right into the same set of cement shoes.
June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG-13; Violence R; Sexual content PG; Nudity G; Substance abuse PG-13; magic & the occult G; GLBT content G; adult themes (kidnapping, murder, organized crime, political corruption) PG-13; overall rating PG-13. (I notice that SLJ and Booklist both rate this 9-12, but I would have said 8-up.)
Liz's comments: It's interesting how many books feature the children of con men this year--I'm thinking specifically of "Loot" by Jude Watson and "Con Academy" by Joe Schreiber, although Julep is different by virtue of being a girl grifter. If you can get over the idea that it's okay to steal and cheat simply because the other guy is either dumb or corrupt, then this is an enjoyable read. Julep is smart and capable--you just have to hope she'll go through with her plan to get out of "the life"--although the fact that they've already bestowed a series name on this (Trust Me, Book 1) makes that not too likely.
No comments:
Post a Comment