Rat life

Rat Life by Tedd Arnold

From the back cover:
The dead body found in the Chemanga River has nothing to do with Todd. Sure, a murder is big news, but what would really interest him? A paying job. Then he meets Rat. Just a little older than Todd, Rat has already seen a lot of the world. And when he offers Todd a gig at the drive-in theatre, Todd takes it. After all, it means a paycheck and free movies. But hanging out with Rat leads to a host of strange experiences and perplexing questions. More and more, that corpse from the river is on Todd's mind; and no matter how he shifts the pieces around, Rat is always part of the puzzle.

This was the winner of the 2007 Edgar Award for best young adult mystery.
I have to say that I got taken up with this story. I really enjoyed the creative writing side of Todd's character, I think it showed humor and gave a believability to his age and background. Although the real suspenseful part of the story didn't get going until half way through the book, I felt that drawing out these characters of Todd and Rat and their unlikely friendship gave the book something deeper to delve into. I think it's a winner for me too.

Read On.