An Unbalanced Force

October 15, 2024
When a teenage boy catches his dad in yet another lie, he seeks answers--but will knowing more really make things simpler? Rising senior Ethan Granger lives a comfortable life in a gated community in Ottawa. He has a fickle girlfriend, Nora, whom he considers worth the heartache. The fact that his father is a self-described "smooth talker"--or, Ethan admits to himself, a liar--is brought home again when he sees his dad with some men in a strip mall parking lot in town at the same time that he's supposedly just leaving the airport. After attempting to dig into his father's business dealings on his own, Ethan hires private investigator Imani Abboud. But when she advises him that something illegal is going on and he should avoid danger by ceasing to look further, Ethan decides to continue on his own. Enlisting best friend Owen, old schoolmate Aki, and Nora (between breakups), Ethan stakes out an address he got from the PI. Eventually Jean-Guy, Aki's boyfriend, helps with surveillance, too. An epilogue shares the impact on Ethan's family of his completed investigation. His first-person narration will ensnare readers immediately, sustaining their interest as this compact, strongly paced story navigates red herrings and subplots. Aki and PI Abboud are well rounded in their secondary roles. Main characters read white; names cue ethnic diversity in the supporting cast. A fast-paced page-turner that explores moral gray areas.(Mystery. 14-18)

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October 18, 2024
Grades 9-12 Seventeen-year-old Ethan's businessman father is an inveterate liar--and he's quite good at it. Most of his lies seem harmless until Ethan discovers that his father, saying he's going on one of many "business trips," has secretly stayed in town. What to do with this newfound knowledge? Ethan hires a private eye, who discovers that Ethan's father has been going to a house in the country, which Ethan and his friend Aki decide to stake out. Within 30 minutes, they see a number of people enter and leave the house, and the boys don't have a clue what's going on. Stalemate? No, because Ethan's father and two associates accidentally leave the garage door slightly open when they leave. The boys enter, and Ethan manages to open the door to the house, where he discovers something that will change his life forever. Sherrard's novel is rather slow in pace with a somewhat hurried finale, but the plot is interesting enough to keep the pages turning to the end.

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