Bullet Point [Hardcover]

Peter Abrahams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2010

Wyatt never really thought much about his dad—a hardened criminal, a lifer in a prison somewhere on the other side of the state. But then the economy had to go and tank, and the community had to go and cut the baseball program from Wyatt's high school. And then the coach had to go and show Wyatt a photograph of his dad at sixteen, looking very much like Wyatt himself. Through a series of unfortunate—or perhaps they were fortunate—events, Wyatt meets a crazy-hot girl named Greer with a criminal dad of her own. A criminal dad who is, in fact, in jail with Wyatt's own criminal dad. Greer arranges a meeting, and Wyatt's dad is nothing like the guy he's imagined—he's suave, and smart, and funny, and cool, and—Wyatt's pretty sure—innocent. So Wyatt decides to help him out. A decision that may possibly be the worst he's ever made in his life.

This is another hold-your-breath thriller by the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award nominated Peter Abrahams.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up—Budget cuts spell death for sports programs at East Canton High so Wyatt, a sophomore on the varsity baseball team, is encouraged to move to Silver City to play ball and continue his chances at a college scholarship. Even though a technicality dashes his hopes to join the team, he's at loggerheads with his stepfather and, after a particularly dangerous blowup, decides to move anyway. In Silver City, he realizes that he is now living in the prison town where the biological father he's never met is serving life for murder. Meanwhile, he meets 19-year-old impulsive Greer, whose father is also in prison. Curious to know the circumstances involving Wyatt's father's incarceration, they investigate in the hope that Sonny is innocent. Told in a rapid-fire style, this novel aims at dimension but comes up a little shallow. Too many coincidences render some characters mere plot devices, and Wyatt often comes to emotional understanding too quickly, as when he first meets his father or deals with a confusing girlfriend. That being said, the book will be an easy sell to teens, who will want to keep reading to unravel the mystery surrounding Sonny. With descriptions of foreclosed properties and tough economic realities peppered liberally throughout, along with strong language and sexual situations, this title is as gritty and raw as today's headlines.—Shawna Sherman, Hayward Public Library, CA
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* It’s common enough to call a book a page-turner, but here’s one that should’ve been printed on a scroll—those pesky page turns take far too much time. With an engulfing plot, multifaceted characters, and a plausibility rare to the genre, Abrahams’ latest beats you senseless and leaves you for dead. Great, huh? When a budget crunch squeezes out his school’s baseball program, 16-year-old Wyatt moves across the state to take advantage of another school’s team. It’s there that he meets Greer—a few years older, beautiful, and equipped with wildly fluctuating mood swings. The frequent arguments between the two are the book’s heart, skipping fluently and believably between impatience, attraction, desperation, and hope. Like almost all characters in the book, Greer’s good/bad status is perpetually in doubt, especially when her incarcerated dad helps arrange a meeting between Wyatt and his biological father, who also resides in the local prison. When Wyatt begins to suspect his father’s innocence, he gets curious—and in trouble. Edgier and sexier than most YA novels dare, Abrahams’ thriller wrenches guts with a Richard Price–like facility. Readers will be as irretrievably drawn in as Wyatt. Grades 9-12. --Daniel Kraus

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen; 1 edition (April 27, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061227692
• ISBN-13: 978-0061227691
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #267,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter Abrahams - "criminally gifted" according to the New York Times Book Review - is the author of 27 novels. These include the New York Times bestselling Echo Falls mystery series for middle-graders (DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE, BEHIND THE CURTAIN, INTO THE DARK) and REALITY CHECK (2009) for teens. Among his adult books are OBLIVION (Shamus prize finalist), THE FAN (made into a movie with Robert DeNiro) and LIGHTS OUT (Edgar award finalist). DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE was a finalist for the Edgar best young adult mystery award and won the Agatha in the same category. BEHIND THE CURTAIN and INTO THE DARK were Agatha finalists. In her Cleveland Plain Dealer review of NERVE DAMAGE (2007), Michelle Ross wrote: "I swear, if one more literary person says in that oh-so-condescendng tone, 'Oh, I don't read ... mysteries,' I'm going to take a novel by Peter Abrahams and smack him on his smug little head." REALITY CHECK won the best young adult mystery Edgar award in 2010. ROBBIE FORESTER AND THE OUTLAWS OF SHERWOOD STREET, January 2012, is first in a new middle-grade series about a twelve-year-old Robin Hood in contemporary Brooklyn.
As Spencer Quinn, Abrahams also writes the New York Times bestselling Chet and Bernie mystery series: DOG ON it, THEREBY HANGS A TAIL, TO FETCH A THIEF, and THE DOG WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. He has a website - peterabrahams.com; and so does Chet - chetthedog.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unexpected Surprise, May 27, 2010

By 

J. Prather (IN USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bullet Point (Hardcover)

I went into this expecting a mystery; a pretty standard whodunnit. In fact, this book does not seem to be much of a mystery at all. It is a very good book though, no matter what category you put it in. In many ways, it's a coming of age tale for Wyatt, a 16 year old boy living in a town suffering from the effects of the economy. Wyatt lives for baseball, and when his school gets rid of it because of the budget, Wyatt moves to a nearby town for a fresh start and to get away from his abusive step-father.

It's after his move that Wyatt gets in contact with Sonny, his biological father, currently serving a life term in prison for murder. He also meets Greer, a girl with a shady past and her own set of father issues. It's then that Wyatt goes on a "quest" to determine if his father is really innocent, and if his girl friend is innocent as well. Wyatt's steadfast determination to view the world as black and white in the face of all the gray areas now confronting him formed the basis of his character and the main appeal of this book.

The author has told a good story here, pretty unique in YA fiction. His characters are 100 percent believable. He has created a sense of foreboding that runs throughout the book and it's that sense of dread as well as the compelling characters that keep the pages turning. There's no real action in the book until the very end, but the suspense runs deep. Read this book for the relationships - the dialogue between Wyatt and Greer is perfect. I won't speak to the ending except to say that even though I was expecting something drastic, I wasn't expecting that.

A warning to parents: this book is a good read for older teens and adults. There's quite a bit of sex and some language that will most likely not make this a good choice for younger teens or fans of this author's Echo Falls series. Wyatt is 16 in this book and his girlfriend is 19, so perhaps kind of illegal in some states?

A well written tale for the older teen crowd.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good start peters out, May 9, 2010

By 

Rita Sydney (Walnut Creek, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bullet Point (Hardcover)

I LOVE Peter Abrahams books. So I've resisted criticizing this one. But to judge Bullet Point as good as earlier works would do great injustice to them. (For example, the Echo Falls series which are wonderful.)

Bullet Point starts strong: a normal kid, Wyatt, almost 17, is thrown by circumstance into unfamiliar situations. As usual, Abrahams does a great job of capturing the relationships among people.

The plot suddenly speeds up when an "older" woman (19), who Wyatt meets by chance, occasions the putting of him in touch with his biological father who is serving a life sentence.

Was Wyatt's dad guilty of the crime he's accepted punishment for? The story moves along OK as Wyatt unravels what happened 17 years ago, before he was born.

Why I judge the book less than Abrahams best is twofold.

The real "bad guys" appear at the end without enough set up early in the plot.

Mr. Abrahams way of dealing with the separation of Wyatt from his "older" woman didn't make sense given the profiles he'd established for the characters.

For new readers of Abrahams, don't judge him by this book. He has many many other ones without the flaws I saw in this one.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bullet Point (YA), April 10, 2011

By 

Melissa A. Palmer - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bullet Point (Hardcover)

Wyatt connects with his biological father, in prison for murder. He meets Greer, an older girl who also has a father in prison. As the pair begin to look into Wyatt's father's case, they are starting to believe that perhaps he was innocent after all. There is a lot of action and twists and turns in this book. This book would be a good read for reluctant YA readers, especially boys. There is enough romance in it that girls could enjoy it as well. This was a good, quick read.

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