Jump the Cracks

DeKeyser’s debut novel begins with a sticky moral dilemma that will have readers questioning what they would do under similar circumstances. On the train to New York City to visit her father, 15-year-old Victoria sees a mother abandon her toddler son in the bathroom and rush off to meet the boyfriend she’s been talking to on her cell phone. At that moment, Victoria decides to take the boy and find him a home—something she herself has been longing for since her parents’ recent divorce. Events quickly spiral out of control: the police want Victoria on kidnapping charges and the boyfriend, too, is after her—believing she stole his drug money. DeKeyser convincingly portrays Victoria’s struggle to understand what happened to her once-perfect family and to protect the small boy. But the other characters seem like stereotypes: the down-on-her-luck single mom, the well-meaning but absent father, the scary drug-dealing boyfriend (at one point he calls Victoria on her cell: “I want my money without any funny stuff, or the kid ends up in the river”). The cartoon quality of the villain undercuts everything else. Ages 13-up. (Mar.)