We're Running These Streets...

Expected Publication: March 15th, 2012

Dark Eyes

By: William Richter

Razorbill

ISBN-13: 9781595144577

Wally was adopted from a Russian orphanage as a child and grew up in a wealthy New York City family. At fifteen, her obsessive need to rebel led her to life on the streets.

Now the sixteen-year-old is beautiful and hardened, and she's just stumbled across the possibility of discovering who she really is. She'll stop at nothing to find her birth mother before Klesko - her darkeyed father - finds her. Because Klesko will stop at nothing to reclaim the fortune Wally's mother stole from him long ago. Even if that means murdering his own blood. But Wally's had her own killer training, and she's hungry for justice.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for teens, this debut thriller introduces our next big series heroine!

Review

   Wally (Valentina) was born in Russia and lived in an orphanage for the first five years of her life.  Then she was adopted by a rich American couple and grew up in comfort, but with huge attitude problems that led her to live on the streets when she turned fifteen and her parents divorced.  Wally has been on the streets for almost three years and has a group of friends that she crashes with, who have each other's backs.  But she stumbles onto something big when one of her former friends is killed while carrying Wally's fake Driver's License.  It leads her on a quest to find her birth mother, who it turns out is in America watching over her under an assumed identity.  She has never contacted Wally because she ripped off Klesko, a Russian mafioso and Wally's Father, to finance her escape.  Will Wally be able to find her birth mother and get answers before Klesko does?  And who will die before it's all over?  I honestly enjoyed this book quite a bit.  I liked how tough and collected Wally was, even when her day-to-day was fairly uncertain.  I also loved the 3-Dimensionality of all the side characters and the double plotline that was working its way to the ending.  You can tell Richter is a screenwriter and it worked out in a good way.  That said, I always felt that Wally was kind of a brat for not appreciating what she had until it was really gone and not just waiting for her to come back.  How many homeless people have a home that they just refuse to live in, but occasionally do laundry at?  She came across as a fake on quite a few levels, pretending that she had it as tough as her friends kind of rubbed me the wrong way.  But I loved the mystery and the ending was so shocking, I NEVER saw it coming!  If you're into action and crime, this is the book for you (as long as you can suspend your disbelief).

VERDICT:  3.75/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading Copy from the publisher, via LibraryThing. No money was exchanged for this review. The expected publication date is March 15th, 2012.*