Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers by Chris Grabenstein
My rating: 3 of 5 stars Light Fun: Spunky Kids Dealing With Unpleasant Adults Seventh grade, twelve-year-old Riley Mack is the leader of the “Gnat Pack,” three other long-standing members and a new recruit, precocious junior high schoolers with attitude and a desire to stand up for the little guy against bullies and venal adults. Each member of the Pack has his or her own strengths: Briana is good at costumes, disguises, accents, and acting; Mongo is giant; Ben is an ace computer hacker; Jamal is a lock picking whiz (who loves using new words learnt from the dictionary); and Riley? He’s good at a bit of everything, especially planning and improvising. Riley’s father is overseas serving his country in the army, an officer leading top secret dangerous missions who, when talking with Riley on the phone, gives him advice like Don’t run from danger and Protect your family and people in trouble and quotes famous martial minds like Sun Tzu. Riley’s mother is an earnest, good-natured woman working as a teller in the town bank. Arrayed against the Gnat Pack in the full-cast Audible Original Drama Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers (2018) written by Chris Grabenstein are the corrupt town Sherriff Brown, his tobacco-juice-spitting, stolen-goods-selling, puppy-mill-running mother, and his bully son Gavin. And the smarmy “Call me Chip” bank manager, who has a gambling issue. And a couple bank robbers who happen to be afraid of dogs. Also playing roles in the drama are night vision goggles, duct tape, ear mics, computers, locks, dog treats, security cameras, multiple safes and locks, a limo, some opera, a shotgun, fifty-seven or so dogs, an FBI agent or two, and more. I almost stopped listening at the start due to the arm farts, omnipresent noisy peppy late 70s early 80s police sit com music, and pre-teen slang like “fabtastic” and “skeezer.” But it actually ended up catching me, so I had to finish all 4+ hours. It does have a nice animal rights thrust, solid voice-acting, and fast-moving and fun (if implausible) story. It is always good to see corrupt and nasty adults getting their comeuppance at the hands of spunky 12-year-olds, and I can see why kids would enjoy it. View all my reviews
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Jefferson Peters
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