How To Steal a Car

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY SEP 14, 2009

Kelleigh Monahan, an atypically underprogrammed American teen, has just two assignments before the start of sophomore year: read Moby-Dick and write a "how to" essay of "acceptable quality." She hangs at the mall with her best friend, Jen, and occasionally with their co-boyfriend, Will. Like a person who picks a fight in order to feel some emotion, Kelleigh starts stealing cars, first as a lark but quickly escalating to truly risky business. Kelleigh has no remorse; her introspection extends mostly to how her crimes compare to her lawyer father's use of a technicality to win the release of a serial rapist. "Who's the real criminal here?" Hautman (Godless) seems to be asking. Kelleigh is a sharp observer, especially of her parents' strained marriage, and she has an appealing wisecracker's wit: "Once you're a teenager, adults stop talking about the crazy stuff they used to do, and they start acting as if they were raised by the Amish." Her worldview, however, remains bleak, as this what-I-did-last-summer story concludes: "Sooner or later everybody turns out to be a disappointment." Ages 13 up.