Heath, Jack. Money Run.

Heath, Jack.  Money Run.  Scholastic Press  2008  245p  ISBN 978-0-545-51266-4  ms/hs  Hardback VG  Adventure    

Australian author Jack Heath gets right to the action and never ceases to create challenges for his protagonists in this novel.  As a matter of fact, the protagonists are thieves!  He actually has the reader rooting for Ashley and Benjamin as they face conflict after conflict in their attempt to find the small fortune that is not rightfully theirs because it belongs to billionaire Raymond Buckland.  He gives nearly super powers to a 15-year-old girl and her young partner.  Teen readers will find entertainment as Ash flies through the air in a stolen car from one building to another, as she steals a helicopter and flies it, and most unbelievably, as she defies a professional killer named Peachey time and time again.  Benjamin’s voice is forever in her ear, guiding her from crisis to crisis.  Billionaire Buckland is always a step ahead of both the thieves and his assassin as he eludes them, and the journey through the rapid-fire conflicts leaves the reader marveling at the cleverness of it all.  Will Buckland achieve his goal of disappearing from society with his fortune?  The reader does not find out the answer to this question until he/she has experienced every twist and turn of the plot.  Heath’s strength is in creating believable and unbelievable scenarios as he propels the action forward.  Some more detail-oriented readers will examine each action with a fine-toothed comb and not believe that the woman on page 16 doesn’t recognize a cell phone switch.  That said, there are just too many close calls, and although that is certain to keep the reader turning the pages, the more sophisticated reader will note the absence of quieter chapters designed to give the reader a breath, and that keeps the book from being a book of note.  But with its high-packed action and interesting premise, this book will definitely interest both the middle- and high-school readers who love thrillers with lots of technology and puzzle-like scenarios to figure out.

One structural error appears on pages 52-53.  It is nearly impossible to figure out that map!  If the reader turns right at the elevator exit and takes the third left, he/she does not end up at the right corridor! 

Summary: Two young thieves have the motivation and skills to steal from among the world’s richest; they encounter more than they bargained for when they attempt to steal $200 million from billionaire Raymond Buckland.        

Adventure-Fiction, Crime-Fiction                            --Martha Squaresky