NO RIGHT TURN by Terry Trueman
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
    Release Date:  3/1/06
    Publisher:  HarperTempest
    Reviewed by:  Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"
    Rating:  5 Stars


    Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Terry Trueman's books, so I won't waste time praising his virtues.  
    Although come to think of it, he might appreciate that.  Still, the story of sixteen-year-old Jordan, the main character
    of NO RIGHT TURN, should hopefully be praise enough.

    Suicide is never pretty.  But when you're a teen, and the last thing your father says to you before he shoots himself is
    "it's all such bullshit," suicide becomes something bigger than a simple death.  It's the thing you think about all the
    time, and yet never talk about.  You wonder, almost constantly, why your father would apologize, then take himself
    out of your life forever.  You wonder which part of life was bullshit--the fact that he was married to your mother?;
    that he had you as a son?; that his life was boring and predictable with a job and bills and a family to weigh him
    down?

    Several years later, Jordan still doesn't have any answers.  All he knows is that his dad is dead, and by his own hand,
    and that there's no joy in his life.  Actually, Jordan doesn't have much of a life at all.  All of that changes, though,
    when his mom starts dating Don Lugar, a guy who owns something that Jordan suddenly can't live without--a 1976
    Corvette, a Stingray with a custom paint job, tinted windows, big tires, and a cool canister of nitrous that will really
    make that baby go.

    The first time he goes for a ride in the 'Vette with Don, Jordan realizes that going 110 mph in that car is the first time
    in a very long while that he can remember feeling alive.  The first time, in fact, that he doesn't feel like a walking
    zombie.  So Jordan comes up with the brilliant idea of taking the 'Vette for a drive--by himself--one Wednesday
    night when Don is out of town.  Just one time, one drive by himself, is all he needs to recapture that feeling of being
    part of the world.

    But one time isn't enough, of course, and it doesn't help matters when he meets cheerleader Becka Thorson, one of
    the most popular girls in school, during one of his clandestine drives.  Now the girl of his dreams thinks he's some
    cool guy with a custom 'Vette, and Jordan's desperate to keep up the image he's created.  Once wasn't enough with
    the car, and he doesn't know what will have to happen to come clean to Becka--and to Don and his mother.

    NO RIGHT TURN is another winer from Terry Trueman.  Heartfelt, emotional, and full of true-to-life characters,
    this is a story for anyone who has ever felt like their world has been turned upside down--and for those who don't
    know how to put it back right-side up.  Definitely a recommended read.
No Right Turn
by Terry Trueman