Books and Literature for Teens: You've Got Blackmail by Rachel Wright

Saturday, May 30, 2009

You've Got Blackmail by Rachel Wright

Lozzie Cracknell is a girl on the edge. Her parents have recently separated; she forgot to mail the invitations to her mum’s super-important client party; the school bully is out to get her following an unfortunate e-mail incident involving Photoshop and a picture of a horse’s behind; and now it looks like Mum might be dating her English teacher, the utterly loathsome Mr. Hilary Barnett.

Just when she’s got about as much stress as she can handle, Lozzie and her best mate Dex stumble upon a tantalizing mystery—it seems Mr. Barnett is being blackmailed. But who on earth would blackmail a bore like him, and why? As they delve deeper into the mystery, questions pile on top of questions, and the one thing that does become clear is that danger can lurk in totally unexpected places . . .

This was my first British novel, so you can image the culture shock or the head-spins from all that foreign slag. To tell you the truth, you really need a glossary of British slang because most of the time, I didn't know what they were even talking about. And I thought some of our slang words were silly, try this out for size:

Instead of saying or saying something close to "Saved by a bell", they say "Saved by a biscuit".

"Saved by a biscuit"?? You've got to be kidding me. Of course though, they probably think the same way about our gang slangs like "Sup'" or "Dog" (most unintelligent).

The "mystery blackmail" plot in this book is pretty predictable-sorry no Agatha Christie or even Nancy Drew here. I felt that the book was rather choppy and had too many short sentences which gave you the feeling that the author was trying too had to describe the moment. You've Got Blackmail is a comedy so you won't be board I can tell you that, but the characters were a tad too shallow. Nonetheless it was fairly enjoyable and will surely keep those pages flipping. Say, maybe you'll even pick up some funky slang words like "saved by a biscuit" or "bugger"....then again, maybe not.

You've Got Blackmail is a short light read that will tickle you pink or even awaken your best British accent. Tea anyone?