![]() ![]() This tear-jerker will leave readers wanting to follow the next chapter in Darius’ life.Įveryone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago-except Pippa Fitz-Amobi. ![]() ![]() Khorram’s debut novel is filled with insight into the lives of teens, weaving together the reality of living with mental illness while also dealing with identity and immigration politics. For the first time in a long time, Darius learns to love himself no matter what external forces attempt to squash his confidence. Sohrab teaches Darius what friendship is really about: loyalty, honesty, and someone who has your back in a football (soccer) match. But all that changes when Darius meets Sohrab, a Bahá’í boy, in Yazd. When he arrives in Iran, learning to play the Persian card game Rook, socializing, and celebrating Nowruz with a family he had never properly met before is all overwhelming and leaves Darius wondering if he’ll ever truly belong anywhere. He’s mocked for his name and nerdy interests at Chapel Hill High School in Portland, Oregon, and doesn’t speak enough Farsi to communicate with his Iranian relatives either. Iranian on his mother’s side and white American on his father’s side, Darius never quite fits in. When Darius’ grandfather becomes terminally ill, Darius, along with his parents and younger sister, travels to Iran for the first time in his life. Hix cleverly leaves the novel’s surprising ending open for further adventures.Ī dynamic thriller featuring a compelling father-and-son spy team.ĭarius Kellner suffers from depression, bullying by high school jocks, and a father who seems to always be disappointed in him. It slapped me across the cheek like I had been back talking to some adult.” Although the book is geared toward YA readers, there’s enough action, intrigue, and humor to engage a wide audience. Luke’s earnest first impressions of contemporary LA’s big-city smells are both believable and hilarious: “I was used to clean, crisp mountain air, but this smelled like a mixture of rotten eggs and a big wet dog. ![]() Hix sketches both main characters creatively and authentically: Luke is an outspoken young man who seeks to protect his clueless dad, while Larry makes a series of reckless decisions despite his son’s best efforts. Hix displays a knack for characterization in this entertaining romp, and his choice to tell the story from a teenager’s perspective makes it uniquely satisfying. A series of calamitous murder missions involving a Russian tycoon, a pharmaceutical kingpin, and a Korean general yields huge payouts, but as Larry gets greedy, other operatives close in. Dismissing his son’s reasonable objections, Larry capitalizes on his resemblance to the dead man, and an ensuing comedy of errors finds him assuming the hired killer’s identity. While staying at a hotel on the way, Larry discovers a dead man in an adjoining room filled with automatic weapons, bundles of cash, drones, disguises, and a computer with detailed mission instructions. Out of financial desperation, Luke and Larry decide to relocate from central Colorado to Los Angeles. All the boy knows of his father is that he has a goofy sense of humor, loves to tell stories, and is an out-of-work meat department manager for a grocery store chain. As a single dad, Larry Wimms has done his best to be a good parent to Luke after his wife’s abandonment of the family a decade ago. A hapless father becomes an accidental hit man, much to his son’s chagrin, in Hix’s debut YA novel.įourteen-year-old Luke Wimms’ life is turned upside down after he starts joining his father on lucrative assassination operations. ![]()
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