Aric Davis tells the story of "Tunnel Vision" through several disparate points of view, each of which begin with their own narrow focus. Two of the characters narrate from a gritty, street crime, urban wasteland world. The third and actually the main focus of the story are two teenage girls -- Betty and June-- who, in between texting each other and talking about boys, decide to solve a mystery -- whether the man in prison for murdering one of the girl's aunts is the right one. Their stories all intersect in a well-written tale that works although it is difficult to know how to characterize it. Is it a gritty urban crime story or a teenage modern day Nancy Drew tale? Or is a bit of both? Whatever it is, it is a compelling read.

Nickel is the most interesting character, having busted out of juvie hall with a bloody apocalypse behind him. The book opens with Nickel saying how he has never been so angry in his life. He's "traveling south on a bus, with a trail of blood smeared behind me, bodies in my wake, and flashes of violence whenever I close my eyes." "Rage is why I'm alive and it's carrying me south just as this bus does," he explains. He has some advice for you: "Watch your six, stay worried, and get ready to run. That's how you stay safe. Leave the pistol work for the cowboys and the boys in blue."
Mandy's diary entries are another gritty voice -- that of a junkie whore who descended into the depths of the urban gutter, doing whatever it took to feed her habit and that of her boyfriend's habit too. Her boyfriend was Duke and he has spent fifteen years in prison for brutally murdering her. Mandy says that heroin is the perfect high.

Betty and June's foray into the world of Mandy's death is surprising, considering what typical teenage girls they are, modern ones, one with divorced parents and one with two moms. Betty is grounded and is caught sexting a boy.

You wouldn't think all these disconnected elements would work, but they do and this is a story worth reading although I really don't know how to tag it. ( )

☊ The audio presentation gets 4 stars; two of the 3 readers are 5 star readers, but one of the main readers was not very good, perhaps 2.5, which brought this way, way down for me. The story had a rough start, although it did improve, but was no more than 3 stars overall.

Nickel is back in this novel, which takes place several years after Nickel Plated, but the story is told from three points of view, and works well for this book. Nickel has just escaped from a youth detention centre and is trying to re-establish himself as his money is low, we hear from Mandy Reasoner via flashback entries in her diary, although she was murdered a number of years before this book begins, and we hear a third person POV for Betty. It was the reader of Betty's POV that was annoying, the one who read for Mandy was excellent, and the one for Nickel as good as the first book.

Betty and June are juniors in high school who are dealing with some relatively typical high school things when the learn some surprising and jarring information. They end up teaming up with none other than Nickel (no surprise as this must be a series) in order to investigate the murder of Mandy Reasoner as part of a school project during a time when a group of people are trying to have the conviction of the alleged murderer, someone called Duke, overturned.

You could just read or listen to this book cold, but it's better if you read Nickel Plated first in order to really get to know Nickel, since you spend more time getting to know Betty and June here. Not the most believable premise at times, but I still liked it. ( )

I was not impressed by the first chapter or so of this book, to the extent that I almost gave up on it, but I'm glad I kept going. I hadn't realized this was a YA book, nor that it had a precursor volume, both of which confused me at first. However, a couple of chapters in, I got involved with the story. The writing is OK, nothing special, but because it is a YA, I give it some slack on that point. The plot is well done and the writing is just good enough to support it. Downside, the young characters had a bit of the Mary Sue about them, especially the male protagonist. It just seemed impossible that a teen had acquired all the skills the character was supposed to have. Perhaps the first volume gives a convincing backstory for him. In this volume, he is engaging enough, but not completely believable. All and all, a decent read, sometimes even a page-turner. ( )

This was free (a Kindle First), and I'm always surprised by how much I enjoy these. This one was the weakest of the few I've read that were offered this way, but it was still a pretty entertaining read.

Nickel is an interesting character. We learn that he may be a murderer, a drug dealer, and an escaped convict, but (for some reason, probably in previous books I didn't read) he's also a PI, and he gets tied up in a decade-old murder investigation that teenager Betty digs up. The victim is the aunt of her best friend.

Because Nickel was such a loose cannon, the best part of the novel was seeing what he was going to do next. He needed to get a couple dozen bales of pot off his property. He needs money. He needs to save a little kid. He needs to make fake IDs. He needs to explore a derelict house. He needs to stay out of the public eye. He definitely was an interesting character.

As was the murder investigation itself. I loved watching how Betty and her friend worked on the cold case. And I even enjoyed the alternating POV between Betty and Nickel, and switching characters like that usually drives me crazy.

What I didn't like was that Nickel was a teenager that apparently can do anything. That really didn't make sense to me. I think it would have been easier to swallow if he was 25. But a 17-year-old that is a PI, that gets hired by adults to watch out for their daughters? That has equipment to make IDs good enough to pass inspection at a prison? Nope. He was too young, and too perfect.

I also didn't like the ending. It was, admittedly, realistic. But I was still kind of bummed.

I don't think I'll continue the series (I believe there's at least 1-2 more), but it was still a decent read. ( )

Betty Martinez is bored with her high school life. Despite being a junior, her two moms have grounded her for sending a photo of herself wearing a bikini to Jake, a boy she doesn’t even really like but just wants to have something to do that’s different from the same old, same old. Betty just wanted some excitement when she sent the photo, but her moms don’t understand.

Read the rest of the review on my blog: http://shouldireaditornot.wordpress.com/2014/12/13/tunnel-vision-aric-davis/ ( )