Betrayed: The Austin Files #1 [Paperback]

I've read enough of my kids' reading material to become familiar with the YA genre by now, and I found this one to be a solid read. In this story, young Austin Pierce comes face to face with immigration issues - namely, his best friend and family are in the United States illegally. Austin's father is a political consultant who has an account with a Texas senator seeking reelection, and planning on using the immigration issue as one of his major campaign points. Austin confronts not-so-closeted racism among his peers and among the folks surrounding the Senator.

When Austin's friend Rico and his family decide to self-deport, going back to Mexico and applying for citizenship through the proper legal channels, Austin gets himself involved in exposing criminal involvement in the illegal immigration trade, and is forced to look at the "other side" of the issues, from the Mexican perspective.

It was a good story, well told, and I enjoyed it a lot. If it were written as an adult crime thriller, I would say it was a bit on the light side, but as a YA novel, I'm not sure it doesn't actually get in a little too deep. I think this would be a great read for junior high aged kids who could understand the issues being presented. It's an interesting, thought provoking read.

STORY BRIEF:
Austin and Rico are best friends. They are homeschooled together by Austin's mom. The boys work part time for Austin's father doing bulk mailings for political campaigns. Someone sees Rico and thinks he might be here illegally. He sends an immigration official to investigate Rico's legal status. Rico's father Armando then confesses to Austin's family that they have been in the US illegally. Armando's family returns to Mexico to avoid getting anyone in trouble for helping them. Austin is depressed and misses his friend. His parents allow him to visit Rico in Mexico.

Senator Stevens has been paying money to Generalissimo Omaga to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico into Texas. Omaga catches them and puts them in his own makeshift prisons. This makes Senator Stevens look good. Omaga also kills people. Omaga and the Senator plan a joint venture which needs certain land in Mexico. Omaga obtains the land from a Mexican family by threatening to kill them if they don't leave. When Austin visits Rico they thwart the plans of the bad guys.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
This reminded me of writing for television shows. It's hard to put my finger on what was missing. It's about two 15-year-old boys and showed situations from their perspective. There's a teenage bully and a fight. There are grown up bullies and bad guys. The teens win in the end. My problems included lack of interesting character creation. There was no relationship development to watch. There was no growing or changing of someone. The plot and writing was too simple somehow. Dialogue was ordinary and predictable. I felt no emotional connection to anyone.

I couldn't read the whole thing. But I read enough to know that I could not give it 3 stars. Normally if I can't read the whole book I give it 1 star, but because this is young adult, I gave it 2, thinking some young readers may be less discriminating. I read the first half and the last few chapters. My comments and data are about the sections I did read.

I wouldn't place the book in the inspirational genre, but there were a few inspirational references, for example the dad says to Austin: "I can't tell you why this is happening, except to say that there is a reason for everything. One day the reason will be revealed to us...Remember, God doesn't give you more than you can handle. You've just got to trust in that and in Him." Austin then complains about bad things happening in history and lessons in the Bible.

DATA:
Story length: 231 pages. Swearing language: none. Sexual content: none. Setting: current day South Carolina, Mexico, Texas, and Washington D.C. Copyright: 2009. Genre: young adult suspense fiction.

› Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews  3.5 out of 5 stars