While I don’t read a lot of audiobooks, my family took a bit of a road trip this week. During the trip, we listened to Pitfall by Clair M. Poulson. In this book, Sparky becomes the scapegoat for the trouble his older brother, Kal, causes.
Intro to the Plot
Our main character is Sparky. He’s fifteen. When he was about two, his biological parents were killed in a car crash. Soon, he was adopted by a couple who had a four-year-old son, Kal. Kal’s always been a bit of a troublemaker. Yet, Sparky becomes the scapegoat for his brother’s actions. Their parents, particularly their dad, view Kal as perfect, so even when Sparky says that Kal caused the problem, Sparky gets punished for his brother’s actions.
After Kal threatens Sparky’s life, Sparky decides he’s been the scapegoat one too many times. He runs away from home. He heads west from Kansas, eventually ending up in a small town in Utah. A few weeks after arriving, Sparkly learns that there was a murder in his hometown, and as expected, Kal pointed to Sparky as the murderer.
The rest of the book is spent with Sparky mostly hiding out. A private investigator is hired to try to prove that it couldn’t have been Sparky and to collect evidence pointing to the real killer. Readers know early on who killed the person.
Basic Reaction
Overall, this was an enjoyable book. The plot was interesting, and it was definitely exciting. While there aren’t a lot of surprises, you still get nervous for the characters. While I was pretty sure I knew how this book was going to end, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen along the way.
My Biggest Issues
My biggest issue with this book was that I felt like there were a lot of plotholes. If you don’t want even mild spoilers, skip ahead to the next section.
Toward the beginning of the book, Sparky and his birth parents are involved in a fatal car crash. Both of his parents die. The crash is under mysterious circumstances. I felt like the author hinted that there was a huge story behind the crash. I thought we’d find out more about it, such as that his parents were in the Witness Protection Program or that they were FBI agents. The author hints at this huge secret or conspiracy involving their deaths. Let’s just say that the whole story gave off “Harry Potter” vibes. Yet, when the book ends, we still don’t know why his parents were in Kansas or why they crashed. There were a few other places where I felt like they hinted that the reader was going to learn about something, but then the book ended without a clear explanation.
I’m also confused as to why people seem to believe Kal. It really takes quite a while for people to go from pro-Kal to pro-Sparky. Yet, it sounds like Sparky is a great student who never causes trouble at school while Kal’s had some anger management issues at school.
Reader Warnings
This is a clean book. There’s no swearing or sexual content. This is an LDS book with some LDS characters. The violence is mostly behind the scenes, although there is some mild violent description. While it’s not graphic or overly descriptive, just knowing what’s happened to the characters might get some readers a bit squeamish.
There are people killed and seriously injured in this book. For example, one character tortures another character for information. In another scene, a teenager abuses and injures small children, giving them bloody noses and other facial injuries.
Final Thoughts on This Scapegoat Vs. Golden Child Story
I’ve read other Clair M. Poulson books. If you’re already familiar with his books, this might be one you’ll want to add to your reading list. If not, I wouldn’t recommend this as your first Clair M. Poulson book. While the plot is interesting, it’s definitely not his best work. There are just too many places where the story doesn’t fully make sense.
