How To Lead A Life Of Crime - Kirsten Miller

Story Line - GOOD - 4

Writing Style - GOOD - 4

Characters - GOOD - 4

Excitement Factor - GOOD - 4

Believability for type and topics - OK - 3

Entertainment Factor - GOOD - 4

Similarity to other books - UNIQUE - 5

Dust jacket Art - GREAT - 5

Title Relevance - GREAT - 5

Goodreads users gave this book a 3.93. I think it was more deserving of a 4.20/4.0 without art & title. (My gut would've given it a 3.)

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Published in 2013.

Pages: 434.

Number of books by author: 15 Novels.

Genre: YA Fiction.

Flick is homeless and makes his way by pick-pocketing for food and clothes. But when a man approaches him for a $700 job, he soon ends up at the Mandel Academy where his father sits on the board. The only reason he attends the school is because Lucian Mendel tells him he has dirt on his father that could put him away for life. Will Flick and Mendel win this bargain? Or will the school be too much for Flick to manage?

You may like this book if you like the following sub-genres:

• School Stories

• Crime

• Relationships

• Murder

• Thriller

This novel was way off from what I expected it to be. I didn't hate it, and despite it's high marks, I didn't love it either. The story line was unique enough, that I wanted to continue reading on. But I felt like I was reading a book set in a dystopian era, and that's not really something I enjoy. However, the story itself was pretty compelling - you want to have these positive responses and emotions for these homeless kids. You want to believe that the Mandel Academy is something that could save these children.

But the characters themselves don't make you feel much of anything. It's like taking one character personality trait and cloning it with a slight difference. So if you feel something for one character, you feel it for the clone. And if you hate another character, you feel that towards another character. It wasn't really a great blend of character traits or personalities, and I think that made the book kind of drone on.

The story itself was exciting, but I felt it was a bit too long, so there were times where I'd completely space out of what was happening - in particular, when Mandel was explaining his medical theory, I completely zoned out. It was just way too long and way too boring. But in general, the book was entertaining enough that I could finish - it was certainly more exciting in the last moments than it was anywhere else.

The title was dead on when you look at the actual story as a whole, and the dust jacket was pretty incredible, showing two faces. (And I'm not really sure why they chose to do it this way, but it was a big hit.)

This review may seem lacking, but the story itself was sort of lacking any "mmph." I just felt kind of distant from the the story line and I didn't feel connected in anyway.