A review by dmtcer
Nickel Bay Nick by Dean Pitchford

5.0

A sweet, sad story about Sam Brattle as he struggles to cope with growing up. Sam battles with his father and has a distant mother who has recently remarried and has a new family now. Sam turns more and more toward a life of crime and rebellion, until one night as he runs from the police, he winds up at his mysterious neighbors house causing chaos and major damage. In order to work off the debt of the damages he caused, he is forced into restitution over Christmas break. It turns out to be more than Sam bargained for, and in exchange, Sam learns that things are not always as they seem. I loved this book! Very reminiscent to me of Gary Schmidt's Okay for Now, and Louis Sachar's Holes; stories of boys teetering on the edge of making a choice in life from which there is no turning back.