A Book to Hook Male Readers

Even the dead tell stories.

This is the first line in Marcus Sedgwick's Printz honor book Revolver. I was anxious to read this after reading the summary, and it didn't disappoint (I think I read it in less than two hours). Part history, part adventure, part mystery, the tale alternate between action in 1899, 1900, and 1910, and ultimately ends with a "closing" in 1967. Set in the Artic wilderness the novel tells the story of Sig and his family who, led by his father, settle in the cold north in search of gold. When the novel opens, Sig's father has just died having fallen through the ice on his way home.

Yet, how could the father, who knows the rules of traveling across the frozen lake make such a stupid mistake?

The reason for his blunder becomes evident less than a day after the father dies when a scary, mysterious stranger arrives calling for what he is owed by the father. And, he refuses to leave unless he gets what he wants. But, what is it?

The "it" is the purpose of the flashbacks to 1899-1900. The reader begins to trace the father and family's past and travels. Yet, Sedgwick is careful not to show his hand too much. We slowly begin to realize that Sig's father must have cheated his bosses during his job as an assay clerk (one who tests and measures the gold the prospectors find). But how? And how did Sig's father "cheat" the mystery man?

The answers to those questions are saved for the end of the book--and ending that boys will surely get to in order to find out!