ABOUT THE BOOK.......
Margaret McWhorter enjoys a laid-back Freshman year in high school flirting with Jimmy Willmore, swimming and hanging out with friends—until that day. Her brother, Sean, suffers a stroke from taking a steroid. Now he’s lying unconscious in a hospital. Margaret’s angry at her dad for pushing Sean to be a great quarterback, but a fire of hatred burns inside her to make the criminals pay.Looking for justice, she takes Jimmy and her best friend, Emily, through a twisted, drug-filled sub-culture. A clue sends them deep into the woods behind the school where they overhear drug dealers discuss Sean.
Time and time again they walk a treacherous path and come face to face with danger. Even the cop on the case can’t stop them from investigating. All the while Margaret really wants to cure Sean, heal the hate inside, and open her heart to love.
MY REVIEW.......
Gail
Pallotta has written an important story of fiction concerning several realistic
situations. This exceptional story is
the first I’ve read geared toward teens and young adults; and an enlightening
book particularly for parents of teens to read regarding the evil existence of
drugs and steroids found in and around our school systems.
Written as a
teen mystery, I was quickly drawn into the story as Margaret McWhorter hears
her brother Sean explaining to his father that he was replaced as a quarterback
on the high school football team. Dad
begins chastising Sean about failing to live up to his high standards of
athleticism expected. After all, dad
still rode on his laurels of being a star college quarterback. Margaret herself is a champion swimmer on the
Meriwether School swim team, and feels the sting of criticism for her brother,
being familiar with this drill of denigration herself. Margaret is a typical teen as a freshman in
that she wants to have fun, good friends, a boyfriend, make good grades, and to
experience all the excitement in life possible within the barriers of parental
constraint. She and Sean have a close
relationship – Sean being the quieter, more reserved of the two.
Ms
Pallotta’s story rapidly suspends into shock and grief when Margaret receives a
call from her mother that Sean has suffered a stroke and is comatose in the
hospital. Sean had taken a Steroid called
Winstrol V, intended to increase athletic prowess, which he had apparently
obtained illegally. In researching
Winstrol V, to find out if it was fictional or an actual drug, the evidence
proved it is real and very dangerous to use unprescribed or if the program
isn’t followed with the help of an instructor. She and her parents meet
Detective Garrett in Sean’s hospital room.
He is an undercover cop and told Margaret he would be hanging around the
favorite teen grill during his investigation and asked her to keep her eyes and
ears open for any pertinent information that would help his investigation.
Margaret
spent many frustrating hours alone worrying about Sean while her parents were
at the hospital. Even though she
continued attending her classes and swim meets alone, her anger at the unknown
drug pushers that sold Sean the drug haunted her until Margaret began a plan
along with her best friend Emily - a Buddhist, and her school crush Jimmy to
solve this mystery. From this point in
the story – I was compelled to work along with Margaret to solve this
crime…..Gail Pallotta did a superb job of keeping it mysterious to the
end. I held my breath in many instances
of danger for the kids. It was obvious
from the beginning that Margaret was blaming her dad for Sean’s bad choice of
taking the drug.
When does a
child first become aware of God being there for them? The beauty of Margaret’s spiritual growth and
trust in God grew like a beautiful fragrant flower. Her mother was a believer and she learned
much about the Lord from her; however she didn’t understand the behavior her
dad displayed toward attending church and spiritual beliefs. She didn’t expect miracles, but she prayed
for one…...or two. Gail Pallotta has my
admiration and some jealousy toward her creative talent of character
development. They are as finely tuned as
a lovely stringed instrument, each having a different song to play in the
story.
As a parent,
grandparent and a great-grandparent – this story jolted me into a fresh
awareness of what seems to be a never ending problem of family dysfunction and
drugs, a battle my family has dealt with in the past. Bad decisions lead to disastrous outcomes;
however Ms Pallotta’s story reveals faith and prayer as the favorable choice to
change behaviors and attitudes. Thank
you, Gail, for asking me to read your wonderful book. God’s grace certainly flows from your quill.
ABOUT GAIL PALLOTTA.......
Best-selling, award-winning author Gail Pallotta’s a wife, Mom, swimmer and bargain shopper who loves God, beach sunsets and getting together with friends and family. She’s been a Sunday school teacher, a swim-team coordinator and an
A former regional writer of the year for American Christian Writers Association, she won Clash of the Titles in 2010. Her new teen novel, Stopped Cold, is a best-seller on All Romance ebooks. Some of her published articles appear in anthologies while two are in museums.
Readers can find her on the internet on the staff of Clash of the Titles, http://www.clashofthetitles.blogspot.com
and at her blog, http://www.gailpallotta.blogspot.com.
Her Web Site is http://www.gailpallotta.com
