Book Talk 2/14/2020: Mike Anka’s Dark Alley

Traci Kenworth

Dark Alley by Mike Anka. YA Drama. Austin Macauley Books Nov. 29, 2019. Netgalley.

Amazon’s Blurb: Dramatic circumstances bring together two people, and there is a spark between them. She is fourteen, homeless, smart, wild, and alive. Meanwhile, he is forty, a veteran, straight and slim, decent but “”dead inside,”” with his life on hold. After some more dire developments, he loses her, but his determination manages to reconnect him with her on her own dangerous and temporary turf – the dark alleys of a sordid downtown hood. With hard work and open minds, they forge out a rewarding father-daughter family of sorts.

My Review: I liked it for the most part but sometimes it was a bit stiff and formal in the dialogue pulling me out of the reading. The story is sad but uplifting and in the end, is enjoyable.

A girl is brought into the trauma ward where Paul is working. He is a security guard for the hospital and has been traumatized by the loss of his family going on two years now. He is just as lost as the girl who repeatedly tries to harm herself while living on the streets. They develop a friendship and Paul asks her if she’d like to come live with him. Jessica isn’t sure she should trust him. Her foster parents have abused the system and her. Slowly, Paul shows he’s worthy of an effort and they begin a father/daughter relationship. When Jessica almost died, her blood transfusion donor turned out to be her wealthy mother who has been searching for her all these years. Jessica must come to a decision: stay where she is on the streets or accept one of the two people who wants her to live with them. Can she walk away from the designer drugs and start a new life?