The Rules of Survival

Reader reviewed by bookworm9

Seventeen-year-old Matt writes of his and his sisters' abuse as children at the hands of their mom, Nikki. The book begins when Matt meets Murdoch, saver of small children, who eventually goes out with and then breaks up with Nikki. After the break-up, Murdoch becomes a target of Nikki's wrath, but also helps the kids forge a life away from her.

The plot of this book was interesting, and kept the story moving with the taut tenseness of what Nikki would do next. The characters, however, left something to be desired. Werlin attempts but never really succeeds in making Nikki more than a psycho villain, and while youngest sister Emmy shows signs of spunky life, she too often seems the streotype of an abused child. Murdoch seems too good to be true, and Matt never sounds like either a fourteen year old (his age when the events take place) or a seventeen year old (his age when he's writing it all down). He's just a voice, without much of an age-- or a gender. His revelations in the final chapter do not seem as horrific as he seems to feel they are, and I would have liked to see more rage from him. Aunt Bobbie, Ben, and Callie are more three-dimensional characters, but as they're secondary, they can't pull the book out of its lethargy.

(And btw, am I the only one who started hearing the A-Team theme song as soon as Murdoch appears?)

Reader reviewed by undercover reader

Matthew, Callie, and Emmy live with their phycotic mother Nikki in a small apartment. Everyday their mother abuses them and Matthew takes up the job of protecting his younger sisters.

One day they see a man protecting a little boy from his abusive father. They befriend this man thinking and hoping he can save them from their abousive mom.

This book was good although could of been better with more action and drama. I highly reccomend it though.