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Raw Deal

by Melanie Jackson
$9.95 CDN
ISBN 978-0-9813164-5-1

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About the Book

A simple favour that turns deadly ...

It's a chance for the new kid, Colin, to score points with popular Jace Turpin. All Colin has to do is take over Jace's early-morning shift at the burger joint. Flip some patties, sizzle up some fries ... Easy.

Then Colin gets kidnapped. The simple favour turns into a complicated murder puzzle - with Colin as the suspect. Now the heat is truly on.

CM Magazine on Melanie's previous Midway suspenser: "[...] action-packed and fast moving [...] The accessible vocabulary and short chapters will make No Way Out a good choice for any readers interested in mystery."

About the Author

Scottish-born and mystery-minded, Melanie Jackson is an award-winning children's/young adult author and former journalist. A volunteer creative-writing mentor with the Vancouver School Board, Melanie is also on the board of directors of the BC branch of the International Reading Association. Her previous novel with Midway Press is No Way Out (2010). Melanie lives with her family in Vancouver.

Recent Reviews

2.5 / 4 stars - Recommended

Writing in first person narration, Melanie Jackson crafts this enthralling mystery novel clearly with her audience of reluctant readers in mind. Jackson writes in short, simple sentences, and uses action-based language, which is appropriate for her target audience. Any reluctant reader would be undaunted by the physical layout of the book: the font is big, and the page count is well under 100 pages. Although it is impressive that Midway Press has employed an original editorial process, using both a Senior Editor, and a local teenaged Junior Editor, somehow a number of copyediting typos were not caught in the final draft. Consistently, the "fi" letter combination was replaced by a question mark; I found these typos to be distracting, and at times, confusing. Furthermore, at one point the supporting character, Jace, was accidentally referred to as "Jake." At every turn, Colin learns that people are not always as they seem, for better or for worse. For the most part, the plot is fast-paced and follows a linear progression. However, after reading the resolution of the mystery, I actually felt slightly misled. Given the information in the story, there would have been no way to infer the conclusion. On the positive side, this resulted in a very thrilling and suspenseful ending.

Overall, Jackson writes a very entertaining and gripping mystery, one which is realistically set in the region of North Vancouver. This quick read is sure to please any adolescent reader with a taste for fast cars, guns, and double agents!

Reviewer: Dorothea Wilson-Scorgie, CM Magazine
Dorothea Wilson-Scorgie is currently a teacher-on-call in Victoria, BC, while also pursuing her MA degree in Children's Literature at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.