“The Odds” is an ARC sent to me by Kathleen George. It should be in stores now.
Rating: 4 WaterTowers (love the characters)
Genre: Mystery
When Charlie Philips died he left his new wife, Alison, with four very smart children. Unfortunately (or as it turns out…fortunately), Meg, Joel, Laurie, and Susannah are more mature and responsible than Alison.
As “The Odds” begins, Alison leaves the kids in Pittsburg, with a $40 check from and overdrawn account, to hook up with some loser in New York. She tells Meg to call the authorities in a few days so they can get themselves in a foster home. Since none of the kids like that idea, they decide to stay in the house, and continue a normal life, for as long as possible.
And they do a really good job. Probably better than with Alison. 🙂
Meg and Joel try their best to make money so they can eat, but, one night they are starving and Meg visits the local pizza place. There she meets the person working there, Nick Banks. He takes an immediate liking to her, and her to him, and he gives them a leftover pizza to eat.
Nick is an ex-con, immature, and has spent most of his life making wrong decisions.
He is desperately trying to change.
While he was in prison, he got involved with a corrupt individual and is now working for him in the pizza place. But not for long.
Invetigating a drug operation, Detective Colleen Greer is sent to meet Nick and gain his trust in order to gather information on the bad dude drug lord who owns the place.
Nick has suddenly become a liability, and Earl is sent to take Nick out (unbeknownst to Nick). and also to take out a kid drug runner, Carl, who has disappeared. Nick and Earl find Carl, but, Nick saves him by fighting with Earl. The gun Earl is using goes off severely wounding Nick (in the leg) and then goes off again, killing Earl (in the heart). The two of them are in an abandoned house where drugged out teenagers (and not so friendly acquaintances of Joel), Mack and Zero, hang out.
Joel happens by the abandoned house where Mack and Zero do their drugs and stumbles upon the dead guy…..and Nick.
After a bit of time, Joel leaves and comes back with food and supplies (as much as he could gather since they have no money) for Nick. He also brings Meg who recognizes, and likes, Nick. They decide to help Nick, so they set his broken leg, put it in a “cast”, and move him to their house where they care for him.
In the meantime, the bad guy is looking for Nick, Colleen is looking for Nick, and Nick is scared, waiting to heal so he can run. But for now he is safe. Meg and Joel are bringing in some money so they can all eat, Nick is improving, and the bad guys and Collen are getting closer to finding Nick.
You will have to read the book to find out what happens next. 🙂
“The Odds” is an intriguing book that builds very interesting and likeable characters in the Philips kids, Nick, Colleen and a few others. The hero of the previous books in this series,”Taken”, “Fallen” and “AfterImage”, Detective Richard Christie is undergoing chemo and is pretty much out of this book, so I did not get a chance to know him.
I will need to pick up the previous books, so I can catch up on the recurring characters.
I highly recommend “The Odds” for anyone who loves a good mystery, but, one that is relatively calm compared to the norm. One thing is for sure: You will come to know and love the characters. I’m hoping there will be more on the Philips kids…:-)
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