YA wannabe stage magician kidnapped in abandoned carnival

Was reading something and just remembered a very old book I read back in middle school (late '80s ish) It was paperback, and didn't seem new (I never read new books) but was at least marginally up-to-date.

Modern setting (70s-80s). There was a boy who wanted to be a stage magician or effects technician, and I believe a girl who was the typical bookish smartiepants. I don't remember how or why, but they are kidnapped, I think for ransom, or to draw some adult they know into a trap.

The two are kidnapped (at different times, I believe) and taken to an amusement park or carnival or some place like Coney Island which is abandoned, I think closed for the season. They are eventually locked up in a small room, and manage to break out using stored materials in the room, and stage tricks like flash-bangs on wires and the vast reams of "useless trivia" that the girl knows. There is a section talking about the silverfish in the boxes in the room, and a really detailed account of how they were worried about using the materials to create flashbangs because they couldn't test them first and didn't know how they would explode (or not).

I believe that the following is from the same book, but I may be mistaken: When the girl is kidnapped, they grab her and put her in the trunk of a car, and she realizes where they are going because she listens to the sound of the car going over the concrete sections of the bridge.

It may be Christian, but I don't remember it being overtly so.

Thanks muchly!

Maybe The Escape Artist by David Wagoner?

Hmm... that touchstone goes to the one by Diane Chamberlain, which isn't the one I'm looking for.

http://www.librarything.com/work/2611225 is the right one, but sadly no one's reviewed it, and I can't tell by just the cover - I'm usually really bad with remembering cover art, and this one's no exception.

Not even Amazon has a review of the book, sadly, and I can't tell if the film is based on it or not.

Checking Wikipedia, it doesn't seem like this is it. (Although the film IS based on it.)

The boy most assuredly gets kidnapped, as does a girl, and they escape on their own with no adult help. There isn't any "greater life theme" to the story at all - just a YA capture and escape thriller.

Thanks for the try tho!

Bumping... hope springs eternal!

Google books has this description of the David Wagoner book; "Danny Masters, a sixteen-year-old magician and sleight-of-hand expert, leaves his grandmother's house to seek his fortune in the city."

I did a 'search inside' the text of the book and came up with nothing for silverfish, kidnap, ransom or bridge, if that helps rule it out.

Oddly, I was just thinking yesterday, quite randomly, about a similar-seeming book I'd read as a kid. Unfortunately, I can't remember the title or author. But in case it'll help jog someone else's memory, the particulars I remember were that the main character had a T-shirt (or hat?) that said "Be alert--the world needs more lerts!" I think this might have been depicted in the cover illustration. Also, at one point the magician-wannabe is in the car with his dad (either going to get the police, or going to rescue the girl) and the dad honks the horn and flashes the headlights instead of stopping at red lights and stop signs.

I'm nearly positive it isn't the David Wagoner book. Also, it was Christian, and I suspect it was written in the 80's.

That sounds really like what I was remembering also. Irritating to not be able to think of the author, isn't it?

:)

Ah, but last night (to my great astonishment) I suddenly remembered the title. It's Splendini by Scott Pinzon.

Wow. I can't be entirely sure without a cover image or more info than a two-sentence blurb, but this is going on my ILL list, and I am about certain that you are my Christmas Hero!

I'll update as soon as I have it in hand, but I'm really hopeful - this feels right to me!

Update - Many thanks to edwardshuman - Splendini is it!

I'm actually going to post a review/summary to Amazon and here, so that if anyone else remembers it, there's a plot-summary they can check back with. If I can get my husband to help me, I'll even upload a few cover and back-matter shots while I have it in hand.

(and you're right - it was rather obviously Christian - I didn't remember all of that at the time, but I'm not surprised that it is.)

I went looking for a cover image for you - is this it?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/57792846@N04/5816769239/

Ah! that appears to be a sequel. The first book would properly be Splendini! according to Googlebooks.

Happy to help!