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First to Die
When the Big One hits California, Mollie Fox and her six coworkers find themselves trapped in their basement office beneath a collapsed shopping mall. It’s bad enough when they figure out that they’ve been working for a bogus earthquake insurance company, but now it’s also clear that their sleazy boss, Nick Keverian, has left them for dead.
Snooping through the wreckage, Mollie discovers that Nick was up to his eyeballs in crime—and everyone who worked for him was part of his schemes. She and her friends swear to get revenge—if they make it out alive. But first they must confront dangerous aftershocks and possible death by starvation.
Will Mollie and her friends escape? If they do, and Nick Keverian finds out about it, can they expose his scam before one of them becomes the first to die?
Snooping through the wreckage, Mollie discovers that Nick was up to his eyeballs in crime—and everyone who worked for him was part of his schemes. She and her friends swear to get revenge—if they make it out alive. But first they must confront dangerous aftershocks and possible death by starvation.
Will Mollie and her friends escape? If they do, and Nick Keverian finds out about it, can they expose his scam before one of them becomes the first to die?
- GenresYoung Adult
Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
2 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
Peter Nelson
72 books23 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 27, 2024
Mollie Fox and others from her school have a job selling insurance, the office located in a bomb shelter beneath a dying mall. Little do they realise, the whole thing is a sham. Then there is an earthquake, which traps all seven underground. They must learn to survive and find a way to the surface in order to bring their shady boss, Nick Keverian, to justice.
Middling teen detective story with no real suspense or surprises. The trapped-underground scenario only makes up the first 90-odd pages and lacked tension. The remainder wasn't all that much better. We know who the bad guy is from the start, and it's just Mollie and the crew following him around from place to place trying to find out the details of his scam - which doesn't even wind up being explained very well.
Mollie is a smart, capable heroine, but she's no great shakes as a person. She fat-shames mercilessly and has a snobby attitude towards anyone not in her immediate circle. The characters all just wisecrack endlessly and it drove me mad. Talk normally for five bloody minutes! Also, why are these teens even investigating this? Nick is being chased by hitmen - let them deal with it! They should have not-my-problemmed it and gone back to wisecracking non-stop.
Points for diversity rarely seen in a YA book published in 1992, with major supporting characters being black American, Latino and Asian. There was an awkward, cringey moment when Mollie namechecks the author of this book as her favourite author. Ick. Not an auspicious start for this series of six books.
Middling teen detective story with no real suspense or surprises. The trapped-underground scenario only makes up the first 90-odd pages and lacked tension. The remainder wasn't all that much better. We know who the bad guy is from the start, and it's just Mollie and the crew following him around from place to place trying to find out the details of his scam - which doesn't even wind up being explained very well.
Mollie is a smart, capable heroine, but she's no great shakes as a person. She fat-shames mercilessly and has a snobby attitude towards anyone not in her immediate circle. The characters all just wisecrack endlessly and it drove me mad. Talk normally for five bloody minutes! Also, why are these teens even investigating this? Nick is being chased by hitmen - let them deal with it! They should have not-my-problemmed it and gone back to wisecracking non-stop.
Points for diversity rarely seen in a YA book published in 1992, with major supporting characters being black American, Latino and Asian. There was an awkward, cringey moment when Mollie namechecks the author of this book as her favourite author. Ick. Not an auspicious start for this series of six books.
Displaying 1 of 1 review