Death at Devil's Bridge [Paperback]

Cynthia Defelice (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Thirteen-year-old Ben Daggett is looking forward to his summer job as first mate on a charter fishing boat on Martha's Vineyard. Then, on his first day out, he spots a strange object in the water -- a red Porsche. The driver is missing. Donny, an older teenager, knows something, but he's not telling. Donny has his own car, and Ben would give anything to hang out with him. But Donny's involved in something shady, and Ben finds out that the price of friendship may be more than he can afford to pay.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-Set on Martha's Vineyard, this is the story of 13-year-old Ben Daggett's summer adventure instigated by the discovery of a sunken Porsche and a need to be accepted by Donny Madden, a 16-year-old with a bad reputation. When Ben and his friend Jeff find the body of the car's teenaged owner, a tourist suspected of dealing in drugs, the mystery escalates. There are many issues underlying the basic story. The prejudice of "natives" toward tourists on the vacation resort, a conflict between the haves and have-nots, echoes throughout. Moral issues arise when Ben inadvertently delivers drugs on the island and agonizes over whether or not to tell what he knows about Donny's part in criminal activities. Peer pressure, self-esteem, and a developing sense of responsibility for one's own actions intermingle as potentially dangerous situations develop. DeFelice artfully presents Ben's inner conflicts, forcing the audience to empathize with him as the mystery unfolds. Some foreshadowing is a bit obvious, but the lively prose style, a plot that keeps readers wondering, and generally fleshed-out characters create a selection that will hook its target audience to the end.
Renee Steinberg, Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

From the author of such fine historical fiction as Nowhere to Call Home (1999) and The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker (1996) comes this contemporary coming-of-age story set on Martha's Vineyard. Thirteen-year-old Ben is looking forward to his summer job working on a fishing charter boat, but trouble comes on the first day, when he spots a mainland kid's Porsche submerged in a bay. As the truth about the car emerges, Ben and his best friend, Jeff, become enmeshed in a classic peer pressure^-induced nightmare. When they learn that Donny, a rebellious older kid bitterly resentful of wealthy tourists, was responsible for the Porsche (as well as a robbery), they keep quiet and unwittingly become involved in Donny's drug ring. Even reluctant readers will fly through the story's clever, well-plotted suspense, and readers of a variety of ages will enjoy DeFelice's cast of believable characters and sympathize with Ben's moral wrestling as he tries to reconcile his actions with his conscience. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: HarperTrophy (April 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064410374
• ISBN-13: 978-0064410373
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,992,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Death At Devil's Bridge, March 8, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Death at Devil's Bridge (Hardcover)

Death at Devil's Bridge
****

I read the book Death at Devil's Bridge by Synethia D'Felice. I would give it four out of five stars. It was a great book that always left you hanging and making you want to keep reading. It takes a while for the action to start, but once it does you'll never want to stop reading it.

The book is about a boy named Ben Dagget and his best friend Jeff. They live out on an island called Martha's Vinyard. The two boys are on summer vacation and the tourists have taken over the island, like they do every year. One day Ben's summer changes when he finds a sunken Porsche at the bottom of the ocean, and it turns out that the owner of the car is missing. Ben later finds out that his role model, Donny Madison, has sunken the car. He has also stolen things from ships, and stores around the island. Ben desperately wants to be friends with him, but how far will he go to get his approval?

As the book goes on Ben and Jeff start hanging out with Donny a lot. Donny tries to get them to try beer, but the just pretend to. They have to make the right choices throughout the whole book, and I would say the theme of the book would be "making the right decisions" and also peer pressure. One day Jeff and Ben were down at Devil's Bridge flying their airplane when they spot something floating in the water. It turns out that's it's the body of Cameron Maddox, the owner of the Porsche. Ben and Jeff run to the police and tell them everything that happened. The only thing is they don't want to rat on their friend Donny about the stolen stuff and the drugs he's been selling. They don't know what to do, and have to figure out things with Donny. Will Ben and Jeff make the right decision, or will they be faced with drug dealing with Donny?

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Kelly's opinion of Death at Devil's Bridge: Boring, December 5, 2002

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Death at Devil's Bridge (Paperback)

Ben and Jeff get caught up with a life-threating drug situation. A red Porsche is found in the water and the body of Cameron Maddox was found at Devil's Bridge. Ben and Jeff start to deal drugs, get involved in the the murder, and try to stay alive.
My reaction to the story was that its plot was like the movies. You know what's going to happen, but it still surpises you. The characters seem realistic. Reaching a point of interest in this book was hard. The part that got me to read was when they found the red Porsche in the water. The story started to go downhill then back uphill. It was also too short. Cynthia DeFelice could have added a twist to the plot, and more details about places.
If somebody asked me about the book, I would say its somewhat average. I'm not a big mystery fan, but if I was, I think its average like I said earlier. Parts of the book were excellent. Some of the concepts in this book is for mature young people. I would recommend Death at Devil's Bridge to people ages 11 and up.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cornwall, NY Sixth Grader, February 1, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Death at Devil's Bridge (Paperback)

I am a sixth grader; I have read the book Death at Devils Bridge by Cynthia Defelice. This book is about a boy named Ben Dagget a 12 year old boy, who is a local to Martha'sVinyard. He was looking forward to a great profitable summer working on a charter fishing boat. He expected to be spending his vacation time helping and entertaining all of the tourists. But then his summer gets weird once he found the sunken Porsche. The wealthy owner of the Porsche, Maddox, was caught up with drugs and alcohol. He was selling drugs as a tourist to a man named Ray and gave him an uneven amount of drugs. Ray did not like this and decided to kill him and let his body go in the ocean. A sixteen year old boy named Donny gets involved with Ray and distributing the drugs. Donny then starts hanging out with two thirteen year olds, Jeff and Ben, so they will deliver the drugs for him. Donny took them for rides in his car in order to make Jeff and Ben like him more. Ben and Jeff get into a situation once they find out what they are delivering. I think this book was great! The things that happened were unrealistic at times because the boys were only thirteen. This book may be inappropriate for a younger reader because of the drugs and alcohol it centered around. Its lessons are very valuable and every one can learn that smoking and selling pot, would definitely be the biggest mistake of your life. Trying to avoid getting in trouble by not telling the truth is also not the right answer. So, if you want to read a book that is an experience that teaches right from wrong, read Death at Devil's Bridge.