cover image Collision Course

Collision Course

Mickey Alman. Ivy Books, $3.99 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-8041-0603-0

While fixing a flat tire on Halloween night, Dan and his quasi-girlfriend Alex come across a fatally injured schoolmate whose last words, ``Trans-Am . . . black,'' indicate that he's the victim of a hit-and-run. Alex and Dan, who have teamed to solve some local crimes in the past, set out to find the driver. Eventually zeroing in on the culprit, the two find their own lives jeopardized in a series of harrowing close calls. A fresh, contemporary tone suffuses Alman's writing, flavoring the novel's dialogue and Dan's wry, witty first-person narrative. His straightforward, self-deprecating yet courageous character ably offsets Alex's aloofness. Although the story becomes mired in a surfeit of details, it is generally well-structured and suspenseful. Ages 11-up. (Oct.)