Now, as the only witness, she knows there’s a target on her back.īut when the Reyes jump her on the street, Maddie is protected by a second gang and their secretive leader, Lobo, who is determined to take down the Reyes himself. If she hadn't, she wouldn't have seen two members of the Reyes gang attacking a homeless man. Maddie Diaz never should have taken that shortcut through the park. Published by Harper Teen, HarperCollins Publication date: November 25, 2014įrom Allison van Diepen, author of Snitch and Street Pharm, comes a sexy, dangerous novel about a teen who witnesses a murder and gets caught up in the seedy world of Miami’s gangs. Reviewed by Lynn Bornath and KB, age 15, on 29 June 2009.įind this book at Amazon.ca,, AbeBooks.ON THE EDGE On the Edge by Allison van Diepen K and I both liked it and recommend it without hesitation. Van Diepen taught in one of the toughest schools in Brooklyn for several years so she knows these kids and that really showed in this book. There was also a fair amount of violence, some of it quite graphic. The teenagers speak as teenagers do so there was plenty of swearing and slang. In a perfect world, they would have made different decisions but this was far from a perfect world. Julia's friends had their own tough decisions to make. For example, Julia's father went from being mostly absent to, as K said, a full on father figure. Van Diepen gave depth to many characters, not just Julia and Eric. I thought van Diepen did an excellent job of showing that the decision to join a gang isn't always easy and that, while gangs are not good, they aren't completely evil either. She learned how gang initiations work (and the difference between initiating a girl versus a boy), what it means to show colours, and what sleepers are. My daughter, K, and I both read this book so this is a joint review.
Trying to protect him gets Julia branded as a snitch and suddenly joining a gang doesn't seem like such a bad idea. For years, she has managed to get along without being part of a gang but then she meets Eric, a mysterious new boy at school. Her mother is dead and her father is usually either working or with his girlfriend, leaving Julia to fend for herself most of the time. Julia DiVino attends an inner city high school in Brooklyn. Forgive me if I can't wait till you get out of that shithole school." He licked the tomato sauce off his fingers. "Yeah, well, the kid didn't die, thankfully." "So whoever did it got arrested and charged, right?" When I shook my head, he said, "Exactly. Okay, despite his adult ADD, Dad remembered some things. "Since when is a shooting in the locker room not that bad?" Don't forget to wear a bulletproof vest." Dad usually didn't remember those things, but I figured I'd tell him anyway. "I'm going to the dance at South Bay Friday night," I said.
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