She Rides Shotgun
An Edgar Award Winner
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4.1 • 226 Ratings
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
*WINNER OF A 2018 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST DEBUT NOVEL*
*WINNER OF AN ALEX AWARD FROM THE ALA*
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2017 BY St. Louis Post-Dispatch • Booklist
A propulsive, gritty novel about a girl marked for death who must fight and steal to stay alive, learning from the most frightening man she knows—her father.
Eleven-year-old Polly McClusky is shy, too old for the teddy bear she carries with her everywhere, when she is unexpectedly reunited with her father, Nate, fresh out of jail and driving a stolen car. He takes her from the front of her school into a world of robbery, violence, and the constant threat of death. And he does it to save her life.
Nate made dangerous enemies in prison—a gang called Aryan Steel has put out a bounty on his head, counting on its members on the outside to finish him off. They’ve already murdered his ex-wife, Polly’s mother. And Polly is their next target.
Nate and Polly’s lives soon become a series of narrow misses, of evading the bad guys and the police, of sleepless nights in motels. Out on the lam, Polly is forced to grow up early: with barely any time to mourn her mother, she must learn how to take a punch and pull off a drug-house heist. She finds herself transforming from a shy little girl into a true fighter. Nate, in turn, learns what it’s like to love fiercely and unconditionally—a love he’s never quite felt before. But can their powerful bond transcend the dangerous existence he’s carved out for them? Will they ever be able to live an honest life, free of fear?
She Rides Shotgun is a gripping and emotionally wrenching novel that upends even our most long-held expectations about heroes, villains, and victims. Nate takes Polly to save her life, but in the end it may very well be Polly who saves him.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of Harper's visceral, pulpy, vernacular-filled first novel, introspective 11-year-old Polly McClusky has an unexpected reunion on the steps of her Southern California middle school with her estranged father, Nate. Nate has recently been released from Pelican Bay State Prison, where a gang known as Aryan Steel issued a death warrant for him and his family, including Polly's mom, Avis. Nate is committed to saving Polly from the Aryan Steel killers, though he's too late to prevent the brutal murder of Avis and her new husband. Nate, Polly, and her stuffed bear, who serves to articulate the swirling emotions that Polly hesitates to voice, go on the run, sought by not only the gang but also Det. John Park, who's investigating the murders. Nate and Polly's relationship blooms, despite their being in constant crisis-survival mode, as the action builds to a climax that's over-the-top but consistent with what has gone before. Expert pacing and well-developed characters lift this above the thriller pack. Harper is also the author of a story collection, 2016's Love and Other Wounds.
Customer Reviews
Could not put it down
It ThiS book took me on n unexpected but reality based adventure- the author has obviously lived a full and unconventional life without losing his/her sense of what is important and real. I’m going to read more of this writer’s work.
This book will stay with me
This book is darker, more gritty than my usual superheroic, white-hat/black-hat reading faire. And yet, I couldn’t put it down. That might have been due to the breakneck pace, or the compelling characters. It could’ve been due to the tense narrative, the white-knuckle stakes; it might have been because I have a soft spot for kids in trouble. But most of all… I think it was the bear.
An astonishing book . It is very powerful . Congratulations to the author .
Margie Faris