Book Title:
Nickel Plated

Author:
Aric Davis

Plot Background:   (Plot taken directly from Amazon, I started to write it in my own words, but they really covered every plot point I wanted to mention!)

  Nickel is a survivor. He has to be. For as long as he can remember, his life has hinged on the flip of a coin. Or, rather, the scribble of a social worker’s pen. He’s been through the system, even had a good dad for a few years, until he was gone, too. But Nickel remembers everything he taught him, and since the day he escaped from foster-care hell, he’s put that knowledge to good use. Just twelve years old, he makes a steady living by selling marijuana to high schoolers, blackmailing pedophiles he ferrets out online, and working as a private investigator. When a beautiful girl named Arrow hires him to find her little sister Shelby, Nickel figures at best the kid’s a runaway, and at worst; some perv has gotten a hold of her. He scours the internet and the streets of Arrow’s suburban neighborhood, and what he finds there is as ugly a truth as he’s ever seen. For beyond the manicured lawns, Nickel discovers children for sale, and adults with souls as black as the devil. And people like that aren’t about to let some kid ruin their game.

My Thoughts:                                                                                                                                                                              This is a book that is very different from what I usually gravitate toward, and I am so glad that I gave it a shot, despite my mind telling me its too different.

  The main thing that I felt the author did a fantastic job of was making you first feel that Nickel was an adult, making his voice so mature and strong before you learn that he is only twelve years old. Nickel was a funny character to me, because his voice, in my head, sounded like a mixture of Rorschach from The Watchmen and Holden from The Catcher in the Rye. The things that he has seen in his short life would be enough to make someone catatonic, but he is such a strong character. I also loved that although he was strong, very smart, and determined, he still longed for basic human things, like love from a girl. In general, his character and the way that the author so clearly defined and crafted him was amazing.

  This book forces you to see a side of life that cannot be ignored any longer. This book really opened my eyes to just how dangerous foster care can be if the foster parents are bad people; it opened my eyes to just how many predators there are online and how easy it is for them to find young children. The heaviness of this book at some points made it hard to read, I found myself having to put the book down and walk away because I was growing so angry or, which this is a scene that happens early on, when he tells about Nicholas and Eleanor, I found that I really couldn’t stomach what I was reading.
This was a very short book, and I am afraid that if I go into too much more detail it will give away the ending, but I will say that the reason it did not earn that 5th star is because of pacing. There were really, in my opinion, two climaxes in the story, and the first one was paced very well, the second one however, felt a little bit rushed. I thought more action would happen because of the build-up. Having said that, the book was wrapped up very nicely and I didnt feel that there were a lot of loose ends.

  I also felt that at some points the story felt a little slow, for example, Nickel goes into great detail about the things he eats, the things he bought at the grocery store, what he ordered for dinner, when he went to the bathroom, etc. Perhaps this was the author’s way of reminding us that he is just a kid, but for me it kind of slowed it down and made me feel a little bored.

  Overall, this was a great book, the author certainly did a fantastic job painting a word picture. I also would like to mention on that note, that once you read it, you should continue to read on into the thank you’s; the author painted a word picture there too! Very heavy book, but highly recommended.