The Adventures of Jack Lime

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A filmnoir novel featuring a hardboiled, narcoleptic teenage PI who solves mysteries for his fellow high schoolers.From School Library JournalGrade 8 Up—High school student Jack Lime investigates crimes involving a stolen bicycle, pets held hostage for homework coercion, and missing students. These three intertwined stories are told in a nonlinear manner, with some events being related out of order to increase dramatic detail. All three are peppered with noir-fiction references and dialogue reminiscent of hard-boiled detectives like Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade, a technique unlikely to be recognized or appreciated by teens. The noir styling is at times forced, resulting in contrived situations, and characters are generally flat and one-dimensional, most notably the femme fatales who are uniformly meaningful only for their attractiveness and propensity for betrayal. The mysteries are filled with the interesting red herrings befitting any noir homage, and their brevity could appeal to younger teens looking for a quick read, but frequent references to physical attacks, extortion, and student-run gambling rings appear to target an older audience. In terms of appeal, they are comparable to Alan Gratz's "Horatio Wilkes" series (Dial).—Natasha Forrester, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistStarred Review At Iona High, Jack Lime is the guy you come to if you’ve got a problem: “Detective, private eye, gumshoe, last resort—you can call me whatever you like.” For a small price (he collects favors, never money) he’ll find out what needs finding out, even if his weakness for pretty faces often leads to some serious bruising of his own mug. This slim volume contains three cases. In the first, Jack susses out the whereabouts of a missing bike. In the second, he shakes down a hamster-napping and blackmail scheme. And in the final, he recounts his first case on the job, in which a magnificently dastardly plan teaches him a formative lesson in humility. All the touchstones that make for great noir are translated for kids: root beer floats instead of double bourbons, getting daddy to replace lost items instead of insurance scams, and a rigged quiz bowl instead of a fixed bout. The lingo that makes hard-boiled reading so much fun is here, but never schticky, and Leck knows that a great hero needs a great debilitating flaw: for Jack, it’s his narcolepsy that kicks in at the worst possible times. The cases are original where they need to be, and derivative when they should be. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel for a great detective story, but you do need a terrific sense of style. Jack Lime’s got it in spades. While set in high school, this kinda-campy book reads a little young, so middle-graders are the best bet. Grades 5-8. --Ian Chipman