Eoin Colfer--creator of the Artemis Fowl series--shows he can entertain adults as easily as he did younger readers with Screwed, the second installment (following Plugged) in the cynically funny misadventures of Dan McEvoy.
Dan always knew small-time kingpin Irish Mike would come after him to settle an old score, so he took out an insurance policy of sorts--asking a former army buddy to camp out with a sniper rifle trained on Irish Mike's mother. Then she loses her life in an unrelated accident, and Dan finds his chit called in. If he does Mike a dangerous, illegal favor, Mike will consider the score partially settled. Between crooked cops, surprise betrayals and a 20-something mob boss with messy eating habits, however, a simple drop-off becomes a fool's errand, and even his wisecracks and army skills--combined with his therapist's tweets--might not be enough to save Dan and his friends from a messy ending.
Colfer's second crime novel is reminiscent of Carl Hiaasen: It moves at breakneck speed, filled with clever banter and hair's breadth escapes. But while Dan's misadventures make for diverting reading, life on the wrong side of the law is not all hijinks. Dan falls prey to indignity after indignity and carries a heavy load of guilt for the sins of his past. The rock-and-a-hard-place dilemmas Colfer constantly throws at Dan will have readers chuckling while wincing in sympathy. Once again, Colfer pulls out the stops to show readers a rollicking good time. --Jaclyn Fulwood, youth services manager at Latah County Library District and blogger at Infinite Reads