How to Lead a Life of Crime by Kirsten Miller (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: How to Lead a Life of Crime by Kirsten Miller Elizabeth Bush Miller, Kirsten. How to Lead a Life of Crime. Razorbill, 2013. [358p]. ISBN 978-1-59514-518-5 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 8–12. Flick’s father is about as bad as they come, presenting the façade of a Wall Street success story while abusing his family in private. Certain that Dad is responsible for the deaths of his brother and mother, Flick has been living on the streets and biding his time until an opportunity presents to bring Dad to justice. Flick gets his break when he’s recruited by the director of the Mandel Academy, an exclusive school (and Dad’s alma mater) that specializes in preparing young men and women to become the ruthless elites who call the shots on a national level. All Flick has to do is graduate from the program within two terms and the director will release to him all the evidence needed to have Flick’s father convicted. Flick is able and determined, rising quickly to the top of his class. It’s the kill-or-be-killed social order within the school that he needs to master, though, and as Flick discovers each new obstacle in his path, it looks like he’ll never make it out alive, much less avenge his sibling and mother. Unlike the more humorous teen-criminal-in-training tales seen as of late, this never veers from a hellish survival story; unfortunately, it’s marred by the dissonant note of the brother’s frequent apparitions in the guise of Peter Pan, and a jarring and somewhat absurd major theme that strays into mad-scientist territory. Despite the overblown plotting, Miller has crafted a thriller with the speed and thunder of a runaway train, and readers are unlikely to jump off until it finally hits the brakes. Copyright © 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois