But the weather-beaten sailboat Chance Taylor and his father call home is thirty years old and hasn't sailed in years. One step from both homelessness and hunger, Chance worries about things other kids his age never give a thought: Where will the money come for the electricity bill, grocery bill, and moorage fees? So when a new job falls his way, he jumps at the opportunity. He knows how much he will earn; what he doesn't know is how much he will pay. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Gr 7 Up-When his alcoholic Gulf War veteran father is fired from the first steady job he has held in years, Chance Taylor is understandably glum. He has no idea where they'll get the money to pay the moorage fees for the run-down sailboat they call home. Since his parents' divorce, Chance has tried to keep a low profile in school, and his only pleasure is running by himself along the Seattle waterfront. When a marina office employee offers to pay him $250 a week to pick up occasional packages at a tree along his running route, Chance is deeply suspicious of what they may contain but desperate enough to accept this opportunity to pay the bills. As this new job gradually becomes more dangerous and more clearly illegal, Chance's father is able to rise above his personal problems to help extricate his son. In a gripping climax complete with SWAT teams swarming throughout the marina as Coast Guard patrol boats close in on terrorists, Chance is afforded a final glimpse of the heroic man his father once was. Writing in a fast-paced, action-packed, but at the same time reflective style, Deuker uses fewer sports scenes than in his previous novels, and instead uses running as a hook to entice readers into a perceptive coming-of-age novel. A subplot involving Chance's friendship with a wealthy female classmate whose father was a close high school friend of Chance's father is nicely integrated into this timely, compelling story.-Ginny Gustin, Sonoma County Library System, Santa Rosa, CA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr. 7-10. My dad never hit me; never yelled at me. He was just a drunk. High-school senior Chance is a ghost-walker at school--barely talking, just passing, finding escape only in long, solitary, after-school runs. His hard-drinking father can't keep a job, and Chance worries how they will pay the mooring fees for their dilapidated, 30-foot sailboat home in Pugent Sound. When a marina worker offers him a job picking up secret packages, Chance can't turn down the lucrative opportunity, even though he's sure it's illegal. But as a friendship with smart student Melissa grows, so does Chance's concern about his job and its possible links to local smuggling rings. Deuker drops plenty of hints about what's in the packages, but the tragic blockbuster ending may still be a surprise. The authenticity of Chance's first-person voice occasionally wavers, and the initial pacing of the story is sometimes awkward. But the sports and suspenseful action will easily draw readers, as will the gripping adventure's consideration of crime, class, ineffectual parents, and a teen's questions about his uncertain future. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2005 Booklist From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.