Four abandoned kids outwit life's travails, and not just their own. With their dad long dead and their stepmother debunking for new sex, Meg, Joel, Laurie and Susannah, desperate not to be separated by children's services, decide to fend for themselves. They're smart enough to pull it off until Joel finds Nick from the local pizzeria, his leg wrecked by a bullet, lying next to a corpse in an abandoned building. With Meg's help, Joel carts Nick back to their place to set his leg and protect him from the bad guys he says are after him. They're not the only ones looking for him either. Pittsburgh Homicide's Colleen Greer and John Potocki, now commandeered by a Narcotics squad trying for a major drug bust, are also on his trail, led to him by the boy who scampered off when Nick dispatched the enforcer. With pilfered pain pills and medical treatment gleaned from internet sources, the four siblings toil to insure Nick's recovery but jeopardize their own future, with dealers, cops and even their stepmom looming on their doorstep. The kids are self-sufficient, supersmart and, alas, mostly unbelievable, and there's little more than a cameo role for Colleen (Afterimage, 2007) and a glum outlook for her boss, who's undergoing chemo. Would make a B movie on the Lifetime channel though. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Pittsburgh homicide detectives Colleen Greer and John Potocki (Afterimage) are on loan to the Narcotics Department to help finalize a roundup of drug dealers. At the same time, a stepmother abandons her four children, telling them to seek help from Family Services. Instead, they struggle to cope on their own until they find a corpse and a gravely injured man in an abandoned building and decide to protect him from the law and a pursuing drug pusher. Verdict George's fourth crime novel is a truly original tale featuring four amazing youngsters: they are resilient, resourceful, and responsible. This very modern police procedural will not be easily forgotten. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Four extraordinary and resilient youngsters lift George's enjoyable fourth police procedural to feature Pittsburgh homicide chief Richard Christie and his team (after 2007's Afterimage). On loan to another department, detectives Colleen Greer and John Potocki pursue a narcotics investigation that meshes with a drug-related shooting. Meanwhile, the four Philips children-Meg, 13; Joel, 11; Laurie, 10; and Susannah, seven-are trying to cope with the desertion of their stepmother, who had told Meg to wait a couple of days before seeking foster care. Instead, they set about making do with limited resources but unlimited resolve. When Joel runs across a dead man and a wounded man in an abandoned house, the four decide to help the wounded man avoid the law and the drug dealer on his trail. George doesn't neglect the police work as Greer and Potocki effectively chase down clues, but it's the kids who are heroic in a world where few adults can be trusted. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved