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Wheels
James was paralysed in a car accident that killed the teenage driver. He can't believe his eyes when he sees the driver walking down the street. Despite his wheelchair, James plays detective and discovers that the real culprit pinned the blame on his dead passenger by fleeing the scene.
135 pages, Paperback
First published March 6, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 11, 2018
My one problem with this book was the way it was written. It felt like a first draft: repetitious sentences and jerky syntax creating a sinuous flow to its prose. The narrative raises a level in the latter part, but the characters are so wooden at crucial moments there is no real depth to explore. Unfortunately, the narrator is the worst/best example: being odiously unlikeable but being rescinded the chance of redemption due to the wooden characterisation.
If the book had a saving grace it would probably be in the discussion around how being paralysed can affect a person, and aspects of neuroticism within families (after a serious accident). Relationships between peers could also be discussed... there is stuff there, it’s just a shame it can be a muddy trip getting there.
If the book had a saving grace it would probably be in the discussion around how being paralysed can affect a person, and aspects of neuroticism within families (after a serious accident). Relationships between peers could also be discussed... there is stuff there, it’s just a shame it can be a muddy trip getting there.
September 13, 2013
A car accident has left James in a wheel chair and his father dead. He is a very angry and bitter teenager. He is not only angry about the accident, he blames his mother for being asleep and not sharing more of the driving with his father, but also about being in a wheelchair and specifically how people now treat him. It is as though he is invisible to many and others act like he is stupid. He feels that most people treat him in a patronizing way and he hates that most of all.
James is being treated not only for his physical injuries but also seeing a psychologist for a loss of memory. His mother is over compensating for walking away from the crash without a scratch by trying to protect him from the world and excusing any type of behaviour which only exasperates and frustrates James.
He becomes even more frustrated when he believes that he has seen the driver of the van that caused the accident. The supposed driver is dead and no-one believes him, not even his mother.
How can a boy in a wheelchair prove his case against this man, solve the mystery about who might have really been responsible and bring a guilty person to justice?
This is an exciting and suspenseful story. James' character is difficult and not always easy to like but the reader will admire his tenacity.
Aimed for the YA market, it is a great take on mysteries with a very good beginning that has the reading wanting to know more.
James is being treated not only for his physical injuries but also seeing a psychologist for a loss of memory. His mother is over compensating for walking away from the crash without a scratch by trying to protect him from the world and excusing any type of behaviour which only exasperates and frustrates James.
He becomes even more frustrated when he believes that he has seen the driver of the van that caused the accident. The supposed driver is dead and no-one believes him, not even his mother.
How can a boy in a wheelchair prove his case against this man, solve the mystery about who might have really been responsible and bring a guilty person to justice?
This is an exciting and suspenseful story. James' character is difficult and not always easy to like but the reader will admire his tenacity.
Aimed for the YA market, it is a great take on mysteries with a very good beginning that has the reading wanting to know more.
June 4, 2013
Beautiful. This is kind of a take on mysteries, and it's aimed for teenagers. Out of comfort zone for most my reads (I need more guts and adrenaline). I loved the story.
James, the protagonist, is a young teenager who's in a wheelchair since a car accident a few months back in which his father and the driver of the other car were killed. His mum walked away without a scratch, and she (compensating her feeling of guilt by protecting James from the world) is now slowly turning him crazy. James lost his memories in the crash, but suddenly he sees a face he sees to remember - is it possible that other person was driving instead of the one who was killed in the other car? No one believes him, and bound on a wheelchair it's impossible to go out to investigate. At least until James finds someone to help him, but then she seems to drive him crazy by treating him like everyone else (like he wants to be treated), and she's got her own agenda...
A refreshing perspective on short mysteries, and especially a refreshing hero. (Now we need some similar detectives for adults please. Or how many sleuths can you name that are in a wheelchair, or blind, or missing a bit more of their body than Harry Hole after The Snowman chopped off his finger?)
James, the protagonist, is a young teenager who's in a wheelchair since a car accident a few months back in which his father and the driver of the other car were killed. His mum walked away without a scratch, and she (compensating her feeling of guilt by protecting James from the world) is now slowly turning him crazy. James lost his memories in the crash, but suddenly he sees a face he sees to remember - is it possible that other person was driving instead of the one who was killed in the other car? No one believes him, and bound on a wheelchair it's impossible to go out to investigate. At least until James finds someone to help him, but then she seems to drive him crazy by treating him like everyone else (like he wants to be treated), and she's got her own agenda...
A refreshing perspective on short mysteries, and especially a refreshing hero. (Now we need some similar detectives for adults please. Or how many sleuths can you name that are in a wheelchair, or blind, or missing a bit more of their body than Harry Hole after The Snowman chopped off his finger?)
November 8, 2013
Wheels is a eagerly entertaining and suspenseful read that stays in your mind long after the last page.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews