Zach's Lie

Zach's Lie by Roland Smith

Hyperion Book CH - April 28, 2003

224 pages

Jack Osbourne has a problem. His father, who left commercial airlines a few years back to fly privately, has been shipping illegal drug cartel for gang lord Alonzo Aznar. But now his dad got caught, and the police are going to let him off if he can tell them about Alonzo. The drug lord isn't going to let that happen, though, so he attacks Jack and his family at home. The police have assigned them to the Witness Protection Program, and Jack, now Zach, and his family have been relocated to the small town of Elko, Nevada, and one false step could have Alonzo back on their heels.

Zach is not the brightest character I have ever seen. He makes a lot of ridiculous mistakes that make it hard to sympathize with him when (not so much of a spoiler alert!)Alonzo finally finds them and wants to kill them. (not so much of a spoiler end) I like the supporting characters though, the custodian Sam and his crush Catalin, who both get him out of the worthless trouble he creates. Captain IF, Zach's imaginary friend, was a pointless attempt at humanity/a recollection of childhood, especially since the little astronaut guy gets broken and shipped off more times than I can count. Smith could have easily cut down on the amount of pages in the book if he had gotten rid of Captain IF as well as flashbacks to when Zach broke both of his legs jumping out of a window. Part of me wants to see how things would have shaken out if Zach had been extremely careful, but Alonzo had still found them through spies, battering people until they give up what they know, et cetera. The other part of me wants to see how my life would be affected if this book didn't exist. At least it's short.

Grade: D