Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The New Kid by Temple Mathews

Thanks to BenBella Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read this.  I guess it isn't that new of a book, looks like it's been out for awhile, but it was available so I asked to read it because it sounded pretty good.
It wasn't bad, kind of predictable, but again, not bad.  The main character is Will Hunter, his last name is perfect because he is basically a hunter, kind of like Sam and Dean on Supernatural.  Will is the "new kid" or as it is always written in the book "the New Kid" a lot.  Turns out he travels from town to town, basically hunting demons.  This all began because of what happened to his father when he was about 9 years old.  He also learned all about how his father had been hunting demons, and although he was unable to hear the demon speak, he knows that it took his father.  And since then he has been searching for that same demon to try to find his father.  He lives with his mother and stepfather, the stepfather is kind of a crappy guy, reminded me a bit at first of the mother's boyfriend in The Lightning Thief series by Rick Riordan.  Somehow, I think I remember it is because of how good he is with computers, he has been able to make a lot of money, so much that he is in control of the company that employs his mother and stepfather so that when he needs to move on to a new town in search of more demons after he's taken care of the problem in one town, he can have them transferred.  Now, when he meets the principal at the new school, I'm again reminded of another tv show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and when she met with the principal at the beginning of the series.  Part of Will's being good with computers has led to him creating a video game that is very popular, and this video game is basically all the fights he's had with demons, he also keeps track of how many demons he's killed in the game.  The girl who will be the love interest is named Natalie.  Natalie lost her twin sister a while back, and she is sure it was something weird that happened, and so when Will shows up, Natalie seems to sense something different about him, to the point that she spies on him, and sees him setting up his fancy room in the basement.  The class nerd also befriends them and finds out.  So now Will has something he normally doesn't have to worry about, friends.  And of course, there is something going on in this town, and it may even be leading up to something bigger than Will is expecting.  Will learns something about his past and his family that will shock him, and really change the way he looks at things.
Okay, this story had a LOT of action.  I actually got a bit bored with it myself at times, especially at the end, when I kind of started skimming through that part.  But, along that line, I can see that this could be a popular thing for boys to read.  So I would definitely recommend it to many of my male students.  Because it was told in 3rd person sometimes we'd kind of get a look at Natalie's viewpoint.  But it didn't flow that easily for me.  It was like it was thrown in just at certain parts.  I'd have like to have seen maybe every other chapter or something from her side, that would have made it make more sense maybe.  Not sure.  All in all, not a bad book.  Not a top choice for me, but not bad.