DROP

 

Publisher: Knopf

Category: Fiction

Ages: 12-up

Don’t we all harbor the secret wish that we won’t have to work for it? That luck—be it a spin of the wheel, a hop of the dice, the right card at the right moment—might just choose to favor us, whether we deserve it or not? That universal desire, along with many others, is played out in the lives of three teens who hope to beat the house, and control their futures. Come meet:

• Sanjay, who wants to be much more than the dutiful, hardworking immigrant’s son
• Kat, who wants enough cash to run as far as she can, from her past and who she’s afraid she might become
• Jerrica, who thinks she can foresee the cards, and maybe make them be what she needs them to be.

Each is irresistibly drawn to gambling’s alluring flirt, and to entanglements with each other, and within themselves. Themes of obsession and other risky business fuel the pages of this fast-moving, provocative tale.

From School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up–Jerrica loves math and probability. She believes that the universe can be explained by equations and she is very close to cracking them, intuitively. Using this ability, she is often able to predict future events, including the outcome of the seemingly unbeatable game, roulette. Enter Sanjay, a new acquaintance in her Las Vegas high school, with a bit of a gambling problem. He is never ahead for long, often borrowing from the safe in his father’s grocery store to cover his debts. Kat’s mother is serving time for a hit-and-run and is now up for parole–and Kat isn’t sure she’s very enthusiastic about her mother’s release. The three are out to take the casino world one small bet at a time. The characters are well drawn and the excitement of the gambling scenes is well executed. Additionally, some surprising details about the teens turn the story upside down, unraveling everything that readers thought they knew about them. A page-turner. (Leah Krippner, Harlem High School, Machesney Park, IL)

From Barnes and Noble’s Official YA Reviewer

Seventeen-year-old Sanjay Patel wants more to his life than the little ethnic grocery store his father owns. Since he lives in Las Vegas, it is not surprising that he sees gambling as the way to get what he wants. He starts out with college poker games but loses more often than he wins, and since he is "borrowing" money from his father's store," he soon has a big problem. He learns that a gifted classmate, Jerrica, is working on a set of principles that will help her predict cards and recruits her help. Shy and emotionally troubled, Jerrica is secretly thrilled to receive attention from Sanjay. Her system does not work well with poker, but armed with fake IDs, they take on the blackjack tables and roulette wheels at the casinos, enlisting Sanjay's girlfriend Kat when Sanjay is pegged as an advantaged player. Kat, who has her own issues to deal with, is not thrilled to work with Jerrica, but when things fall apart, she is the one who takes Jerrica's side. The plot is engrossing and appealing and the characters are well developed without relying on stereotypes. Jerrica and Kat achieve a convincing degree of inner strength and growth, but their problems are not magically and neatly resolved. Like many self-absorbed people, Sanjay changes little, remaining charming, self centered, and manipulative; clearly, he does not understand his own responsibility. For those who need to be concerned about it, there is a small amount of cursing; otherwise, this is a book with wide appeal. (Reviewer: Donna L. Scanlon)