Book Review: Nickel Plated by Aric Davis

Title: Nickel Plated
Author: Aric Davis
Publisher: AmazonEncore
Release Date: 03/22/2011
ISBN: 1935597329
Buy it here!








I have to admit that for reasons of my own, I’ve really been looking forward to reading this book. The premise was interesting & I have to admit that the excerpt was pretty enticing. Nickel is an Artemis Fowl type character as far as his intelligence & street savvy go. (Of course there are no supernatural creatures in this book & Nickel isn’t rich like Fowl is.)

Nickel might be a kid, but he isn’t innocent. That was taken away from him thanks to a set of horribly abusive foster parents that he only just managed to get away from. Ever since then he’s lived on his own, living by the lessons his dad taught him just before he was gone. Nickel makes his living selling weed, blackmailing perverts, & doing a little investigative work. He never charges the kids, especially when they’re someone like Arrow- a beautiful girl who is looking desperately for her missing little sister. She doesn’t know if he sister ran away or if she was abducted, all Arrow knows is that if she wants her sister found then Nickel is the best guy for the job. And Nickel is very, very good at what he does, which is a good thing because every minute that goes by makes it that much harder for a missing kid to be found.

I really enjoyed reading this. It might have had some pretty adult subject matter but it proved to be a nice easy read that I was able to finish after only a day. It was fun reading about Nickel’s abilities, although I will admit at times I kind of felt like he seemed to be just a little too good at these things for how young he was. Davis does explain Nickel’s prowess later on in the book but I just would have liked to see a little more description about his learning process when it came to his skills. This wasn’t enough to ruin my enjoyment of the book, however.

Overall this really was a fun read & this could easily turn into a series if the author really wanted to pursue that route. As far as objectionable material goes, the book is surprisingly clean. Yes there is mention of pedophilia but there are no actual acts or descriptions of it in the book (thank goodness). There are a few action scenes, but no actual unwarranted violence. I would suggest, however, that parents of especially young kids read this book before handing it off to their children.

(ARC provided by Amazon Vine)

Read this book: Nickel Plated by Aric Davis

Hi everyone!

I want to tell all of you about an author that competed in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novelist Awards. His name is Aric Davis & he wrote one of the best excerpts in the forum, but unfortunately he didn't progress in the contest due to a technicality, but thankfully Amazon had the good sense to snap his book up to be released through their AmazonEncore line.

Here's the book synopsis:

Nickel is a survivor. He has to be. For as long as he can remember, his life has hinged on the flip of a coin. Or, rather, the scribble of a social worker’s pen. He’s been through the system, even had a good dad for a few years, until he was gone, too. But Nickel remembers everything he taught him, and since the day he escaped from foster-care hell, he’s put that knowledge to good use. Just twelve years old, he makes a steady living by selling marijuana to high schoolers, blackmailing pedophiles he ferrets out online, and working as a private investigator.

When a beautiful girl named Arrow hires him to find her little sister Shelby, Nickel figures at best the kid’s a runaway; at worst, some perv’s gotten a hold of her. He scours the internet and the streets of Arrow’s suburban neighborhood, and what he finds there is as ugly a truth as he’s ever seen. For beyond the manicured lawns, Nickel discovers children for sale, and adults with souls black as the devil. And people like that aren’t about to let some kid ruin their game. This edgy thriller introduces a canny, precocious anti-hero, the likes of which young-adult readers have never seen.

I'm really excited to see this in print & even more excited to announce this to everyone! If you want to order a copy from amazon, feel free to pre-purchase it here. It doesn't release until March of 2011, but from what I read of it the book is well worth the wait.

If you want to show the author a little love, you can always visit his website & contact him through there! Davis also has another book out that he self-published, which is unfortunately not in print anymore but hopefully now that Nickel Plated has been picked up we'll see that come back into print!