Nothing to Lose [Hardcover]

Alex Flinn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2004

I shouldn't have come back to Miami. . . . I've been escaping cops' notice for a year now -- since I ran away. I'm no longer Michael Daye, high school athlete with a promising future. Now I look like someone with no future. I look like a carny.

A year ago Michael's life seemed pretty good, at least from the outside. But with a new stepfather in the picture, his world was actually violently out of control. When Michael grabs a chance to leave town with a traveling fair, he finds that their motto of “don't ask, don't tell” is a welcome refuge from the unbearable situation at home.

But now Michael is back in Miami, and his mother is on trial for murder. As the day of her trial draws closer, Michael wonders how much longer he can hide from his past . . . and his future.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up--Michael Daye, aka Robert Frost, is on the run, and he knows he never should have returned to Miami, but in order to keep his job with the carnival, he has to go where it takes him. He hopes that he won't be recognized as the son of Lisa Monroe, who is on trial for the murder of her millionaire husband, Michael's tyrannical, abusive stepfather. Through alternating present/last-year chapters, readers follow the teen as he tries to live in the moment and avoid the cops who want to question him, while remembering his life just before he ran away from home. Unfortunately, he had been unable to convince his mother to leave the marriage, so she took the only other way out… or did she? Flinn has created a believable, conflicted, and often angry protagonist. This is a compelling story about abusive relationships and the trauma they cause, as well as the legal implications of "self-defense" within them. Readers will be drawn to Michael in his despair and his fervent desire to protect his mother. Unfortunately, all too many young adults will know firsthand how accurate the portrayals are. This is a heartrending, unforgettable book.--Lynn Evarts, Sauk Prairie High School, Prairie du Sac, WI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 7-12. The author of Breathing Underwater (2001) and Breaking Point (2002) mines her legal background to good effect in this new novel. A year has passed since Michael fled his impossible home life to join a traveling carnival. Now the 17-year-old runaway has returned to Miami to find his mother going on trial for the murder of his savagely abusive stepfather. What really happened? Only Michael knows the whole truth, but will he come forward? In a narrative that--in brief, alternating chapters--moves backward and forward in time, Flinn expertly reveals how very complicated this question is. The result is a fast-paced, readable mystery that is rooted in the psychology of battered-spouse syndrome and its impact on an entire family. An inside look at carnival life and Michael's growing love for another carny named Kirstie add gritty texture and a layer of emotional richness to the already intriguing plot. Michael Cart
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen; 1 edition (March 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060517506
• ISBN-13: 978-0060517502
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,302,627 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alex Flinn was born in Syosset, New York. She learned to read at three and wanted to be a writer at five. She received her first rejection letter (from Highlights magazine) at eight. At twelve, her family moved to Miami, Florida, where she had a really hard time making friends, due to congenital shyness and a really bad haircut. So she read a lot and tried to write a novel but never finished because she had no idea what to write about.

Flinn attended a performing arts high school program, similar to that portrayed in her book, Diva, then majored in vocal performance in college. Panicked upon realizing that there weren't a whole lot of jobs for opera singers, Flinn went to law school.

Law school was, it turns out a really good place to learn to write for teenagers. Writing for teens and writing for judges are very similar because both judges and teens have a lot of demands on their time and minimal time for reading. Also, Flinn interned at the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, trying many domestic violence cases, which were later the inspiration for her first novel, Breathing Underwater.

Breathing Underwater was published in 2001. It received many honors, including being chosen a Top 10 Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association. It was followed by Breaking Point, Nothing to Lose, Fade to Black, Diva, and Beastly. Beastly is soon to be released as a motion picture. Her newest book is A Kiss in Time, a modern Sleeping Beauty.

Flinn still lives in Miami with her husband, two daughters, a dog, cat, and African Spur-Thighed Tortoise. She enjoys performing arts, biking, and travel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What choices do any of us really have?, July 1, 2006

By 

Kimberly Pauley "YA Author" (Grayslake, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nothing to Lose (Hardcover)

Nothing to Lose is an incredibly heart-wrenching book because of the very strong story and believable protagonist, but also because of the all-too-true story of abuse that could have been ripped from the headlines of any newspaper across the world. Michael Daye has been on the run for a year, traveling with a carnival, but now he's back in his hometown of Miami, hoping not to be recognized for who he really is: the son of Lisa Monroe, currently on trial for the murder of her husband.

Walker, Michael's now-dead stepfather, was a horribly abusive man. As the book unfolds and every other chapter takes you back a year to when the trouble first really started (though I suppose you could argue it really started when Lisa first began dating Walker), you see that Michael did everything within his power to get his mother to leave. But, like many abused women, she didn't feel capable of it and stayed.

For the first time, he felt like he had an option other than just watching his mother get beaten by Walker. Kirstie, a carny, makes him realize that sometimes there really is nothing you can do. People have to want to help themselves. Michael finally gave up completely after `outing' Walker to an Emergency Room nurse and having his mother once again deny the abuse. He decided to leave everything behind and create a new life with Kirstie and the carnies.

But what really happened the night Walker died? Can Michael help his mother now? Will she accept his help or will her guilt hold her back? There are many questions and Alex Flinn masterfully twines everything together to come up with an effective and engrossing ending (though some may guess the truth early on, it is so well done you won't mind at all).

I recommend this book for readers aged 12 and up. There are some sexual situations (none graphic and none gratuitous) and some painful abuse/fighting scenes, so do keep that in mind. What I'd really like to do is recommend this to women suffering under domestic violence. This book very clearly shows how abuse challenges and changes every member of the household.

If you or someone you love is in such a situation - don't hesitate. Get help. Your local phone book will have listings for local organizations and the Internet also offers help. Just search for "domestic violence" or similar terms.

Kimberly Pauley, YA Books Goddess @ YABooksCentral.com

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrific use of format, June 14, 2004

By 

Gail Giles (Woodlands, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nothing to Lose (Hardcover)

Nothing to Lose alternates between Then and Now using past and present tense in the narratives to tell the story. It works seamlessly and and isn't just a device. It drives the story and helps establish the confusion in the main character's mind. The carnival backdrop is fresh and interesting.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another winner from Alex Flinn, September 1, 2005

By 

Jessica Lux (Rosamond, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nothing to Lose (Hardcover)

This story is structured well, told in alternating passages from the present time and from the events of a year ago in narrator Michael's life. The two time periods converge beautifully at the end, as we learn the whole story about the night that Michael's abuse stepfather was murdered in his house. The end is slightly predictable, but the journey is still enjoyable, as Michael deals with anger, guilt, choices between right and wrong, and a basic struggle to survive.

This book has a good male protagonist, and it should appeal to teen readers of both genders. Michael is a tough guy, a football player, who realizes he has no true friends to confide in about the hell that his homelife is. He makes an unlikely friend throughout the course of the book, and there's a good lesson about finding your true friends in here.

Breathing Underwater is an earlier, and even better, YA novel from Flinn that comes highly recommended.