Sketchy Behavior

On the screen, there was Candace Olstrom standing on my front porch. “Im here at the heroic Kate Carter’s house, the girl who saved who knows how many lives and brought four victim’s souls to justice.” All I could do was sit down and stare at the tv as Candace continued on. I drew John X. I drew John X. On the one hand I felt kind of proud that I helped the SWF police on one of the biggest crimes this year, but on the other hand… I just knew it. Life was never going to be the same again.

Book: Sketchy Behavior by Erynn Mangum, Zondervan Publishers, 2011

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Target Audience: Girls 14-18

Subjects: Crime, Faith, Friendship

Summary: Kate Carter is an ordinary girl, nothing special about her, quite unpopular. At least she is until that day in art class when her teacher starts a unit on careers in art. She brings in a police officer who reads a description of a criminal in order to teach them what a forensic sketch artist does. Kate draws what he reads and the sketch is shown to the victim who identifies the man in the sketch as John X, the dangerous murderer who has already killed four women. Suddenly she’s not ordinary or unpopular at all. She’s been featured on the news, everybody wants to talk to her, she’s being shot at during parades on her behalf, she’s doing press conferences, kids are skipping school because of the danger of associating with someone a murderer is after and her dad is carrying around a gun. Life has just gotten very unordinary.

Notes: This is an interesting book, an entertaining concept. However, there isn’t much spiritual value to it. Kate is seeking but the Christians aren’t giving many answers, just short snippets here and there. There’s great opportunity in the way the story is set up to present the Gospel message, but it’s left out. It seems to be written merely as entertainment for those who already know the message, rather than as a book with a message to impact readers. It’s kind of sad how close it comes to having a purpose and then just leaves you hanging.

Recommendation Scale: 1/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Acts 17:27 - God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.