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The Thrill Kids

by M. E. Kerr

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1111,720,737 (3)1
The Lesson - According to Kicks... Heine pointed the knife at her. "O.K., Lady Godiva, take off the blouse." She stood motionless, unable to answer or move. "Go ahead," Heine said. "Take that piece-of-nothing off." The boy's shoulders slumped and he began to groan. "Brace, mister!" Bar shouted. He put a fist in the boy's gut, and the boy sank to his knees in the dirt, weeping helplessly. "O.K., green-belly," Bar said. "Stay there. Your turn comes next." Dazedly the girl undid her blouse. Heine reached and yanked it off her shoulders. She stood there quivering, her pink slip plain and worn. Behind them, Manny began to cough. Johnny stood rooted to the place from where he watched. "Let the straps down," Heine said to the girl. "Please. Please..." "Do what I tell you." Heine held the knife menacingly. The boy began to pray softly in Spanish. She raised trembling fingers to her bare shoulders and slipped the straps over them. The top of her slip and her bra fell to her waist. "Let her go," Manny whispered. "You ought to let her go now. Huh?" "Let her go!" Bar shouted. "What are you worried about, mister? We're just teaching these two juvenile delinquents a lesson. Don't you understand that, mister? We're going to teach these two juvenile delinquents a lesson they're never, never going to forget." He drew his foot back violently and kicked the boy in the groin. "Isn't that right, green-belly?" The boy's scream of pain rent the air of the summer night.… (more)
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There should be a fiction genre called "train wreck". You know where the story is going, because the author tells you up front. The pleasure, I suppose, is to be had in watching the derailment and seeing if anyone survives. Of the four Vin Packer books I have read, three follow this formula. There is usually a psychologist or other professional quoted at the beginning of each chapter to provide even more foreshadowing and lend a sense of legitimacy--i.e., this is really a story about juvenile delinquency, not a lurid pulp novel. Packer is very good at this, and she creates a memorable cast of characters, not just the doomed kids, but their parents, their neighbors, and assorted other shady city types. We come along for the ride willingly, and despite what we know we're in for, we can still be shocked on occasion by a character who professes an admiration for Hitler, or a boy who only loves his snake, or by a mother who really has no idea what kind of person her son is. Had this been the first book of this pattern I read by Packer, I would have probably given it another star. It is a good read, but falls far short of what Packer delivered in SOMETHING IN THE SHADOWS, a much more complex, better written book. ( )
  datrappert | Jun 10, 2013 |
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The Lesson - According to Kicks... Heine pointed the knife at her. "O.K., Lady Godiva, take off the blouse." She stood motionless, unable to answer or move. "Go ahead," Heine said. "Take that piece-of-nothing off." The boy's shoulders slumped and he began to groan. "Brace, mister!" Bar shouted. He put a fist in the boy's gut, and the boy sank to his knees in the dirt, weeping helplessly. "O.K., green-belly," Bar said. "Stay there. Your turn comes next." Dazedly the girl undid her blouse. Heine reached and yanked it off her shoulders. She stood there quivering, her pink slip plain and worn. Behind them, Manny began to cough. Johnny stood rooted to the place from where he watched. "Let the straps down," Heine said to the girl. "Please. Please..." "Do what I tell you." Heine held the knife menacingly. The boy began to pray softly in Spanish. She raised trembling fingers to her bare shoulders and slipped the straps over them. The top of her slip and her bra fell to her waist. "Let her go," Manny whispered. "You ought to let her go now. Huh?" "Let her go!" Bar shouted. "What are you worried about, mister? We're just teaching these two juvenile delinquents a lesson. Don't you understand that, mister? We're going to teach these two juvenile delinquents a lesson they're never, never going to forget." He drew his foot back violently and kicked the boy in the groin. "Isn't that right, green-belly?" The boy's scream of pain rent the air of the summer night.

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