Runner (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Runner Elizabeth Bush Newton, Robert Runner. Knopf, 2007209p Library ed. ISBN 0-375-93744-7$18.99 Trade ed. ISBN 0-375-83744-2$15.99 Ad Gr. 6-9 It's only been a few months since his father succumbed to the Spanish influenza of 1919, and with cold weather setting in on Melbourne, Australia, fifteen-year-old Charlie Feehan knows he'll have to scrape up a job to keep himself, his mother, and his baby brother from destitution. His fleet feet catch the attention of local crime boss Squizzy Taylor, and after winning a rigged competition to become Squizzy's [End Page 478] runner, Charlie's able to tuck some money aside. Moreover, family problems seem to go away as soon as Squizzy intervenes: the man who's been demanding sex of Mrs. Feehan in return for firewood now sports a bandaged head and a willingness to part with all the logs Charlie can haul away. The work is relatively easy, running errands and making a few late-night contraband liquor deliveries, and Charlie can even throw a little work in the way of his best friend, Norman "Nostrils" Heath, an amiable guy who's just embarked on a promising career on the local footy team. When Squizzy takes on a pair of rival bosses out of his league, Charlie's errands (which now include collecting protection money) take on new peril, and after Nostrils gets kneecapped on a liquor run, Charlie knows it's time to quit the business. Newton's tale is most convincing when it revolves around hardscrabble Melbourne and the mercurial Squizzy Taylor, but when Charlie turns in his fancy work shoes and trains for the Ballarat Mile foot race, the plot strays into the realm of wishful thinking. Not only does Charlie sever his mob connection with improbable ease, but he bags the first place purse at Ballarat, bets and wins on his own performance at long odds, and uses his newfound wealth to buy a lumber yard for himself and Nostrils, and so presumably live happily and guilt-free ever after. Still, despite his series of unrealistically lucky breaks, Charlie's a likable kid who sets himself on an ethical course just in the nick of time, and readers are unlikely to begrudge him a prosperous future. Copyright © 2007 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois