P.K. Pinkerton and the Case of the Deadly Desperados

I was given this by my editor to show me what could be done in a mid-grade novel, and I'm bloody glad of it. Lawrence acknowledges her debt to Charles Portis, as well she should. True Grit is one of my favourite novels, and this is a worthy homage. Our young protagonist, PK, is half-Indian, autistic and on the run after their adoptive parents are horribly murdered by the deadly desperados. There follows a wild chase from the small town where PK lives via the back of a stagecoach, through the Chinese laundries, saloons, bordellos, newspaper offices, muddy streets and shops of Virginia to the bottom of a pitch-black mine-shaft, with a few rare pauses for breath to ponder the mystery of what they're after and why and encounter a few of the show more colourful folk living there, some considerably less trustworthy than others. Vividly entertaining, this manages to stay grounded while keeping things age-appropriate with a few sly wry nods to grown-up readers. show less

I wanted to like this more than I did, because the idea of western featuring an autistic kid detective sounds like a good original idea. However (and I might be being oversensitive), the racial/gender issues were too much for me to overlook, and I found myself wondering who I could ever recommend this book to ("Well, it features numerous horrible stereotypes about Native Americans, and one time they straight up calls a lady a whore. And he sees two people having sex!"). Plus, I'd just read By the Great Horn Spoon! which was just a much more fun kids' western. I would've given this three stars because it was a good mystery, but I'm knocking it down a star for the rest of the faults.

My boys enjoyed the suspense, the surprises, the mystery.
I'm glad I read it out loud, so that I could skip some parts that weren't child-friendly. (i.e. how the Soiled Dove stored her money, although in keeping with the times, and character, the description was more than what I would want my boys to think about.)
We looked for more in the series and were disappointed that we couldn't locate them.

PK is twice orphaned with outlaws on his trail in this tale of missing documents, disguises, a protagonist who has problems reading the intentions of others. Fast moving.

This book is a fun, western adventure set back in the 1800s before Nevada was a state.

P.K. Pinkerton's debut.