The Fourth Stall Part III

by Chris Rylander

Overview

The story of Mac, Vince, and middle-school organized crime comes to its thrilling conclusion in the third book of Chris Rylander’s Fourth Stall saga, a series that combines a Godfather-like tale of crime and betrayal with hilarious school comedy à la Jack Gantos.

Their business is finished, and Mac’s and Vince’s lives have become something they have never been before—simple. None of the fortune or the glory, none of the risk or the threat of juvenile prison. There’s even a new business that has stepped in to take its place (and take the heat off Mac and Vince for once). Things couldn’t be better.

But that was before things at their middle school started to go haywire. Before they found out that there’s a new crime boss at a school another town over trying to consolidate power. And before their old nemesis, Staples, came back to town begging for help after his stint in the clink. Just when Mac and Vince thought they were out, the business pulls them back in. But this time, will they be able to escape with their lives and their permanent records intact?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062120052
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/05/2013
Series:	Fourth Stall , #3
Pages:	292
Product dimensions:	5.86(w) x 8.34(h) x 1.03(d)
Lexile:	830L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Chris Rylander is the author of the Fourth Stall saga and the Epic Series of Failures trilogy, as well as Codename Zero and its sequels. A fan of baseball, statistics, and baseball statistics, he lives with his family in Chicago. You can visit him online at www.chrisrylander.com.

What People are Saying About This

Jon Scieszka

Do yourself a favor. Read it. Now.

Editorial Reviews

Readers will be flushed with excitement to follow Mac’s operations from the fourth stall. — Kirkus Reviews, about THE FOURTH STALL PART II

Rylander uses the slow build to set the noir feel of the novel, creating an antihero protagonist who is hard not to like and respect. Fans…will not be disappointed. — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA), about THE FOURTH STALL PART II

Mac narrates the…tale with the arch flatness of a 1940s satire of the noir detective genre.…Excellent. — ALA Booklist, about THE FOURTH STALL

Rylander mines a substantial amount of humor and heart from this combination hard-boiled crime novel and middle-grade character piece. A light and enjoyable caper. — Publishers Weekly, about THE FOURTH STALL

Do yourself a favor. Read it. Now. — Jon Scieszka, about THE FOURTH STALL

From the Publisher

Do yourself a favor. Read it. Now.

Jon Scieszka

Mac narrates the…tale with the arch flatness of a 1940s satire of the noir detective genre.…Excellent.

ALA Booklist

Rylander uses the slow build to set the noir feel of the novel, creating an antihero protagonist who is hard not to like and respect. Fans…will not be disappointed.

Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

In the third and final installment of the Fourth Stall saga, Mac and Vince are pulled back into the world of organized crime at their middle school. Life seemed simple for a while. Seventh grade had started, and Mac and Vince were no longer running their syndicate out of the fourth stall in the east-wing boys' bathroom. Their service had been to help middle schoolers with their problems…for a price. But Jimmy Two-Tone moves in to reopen it, offering a 15-percent cut to Mac and Vince since they had built the business in the first place. "[R]isk-free money," Mac thinks, until Jimmy's operation gets out of hand, and Jimmy finds himself in over his head. All of a sudden a higher power makes a play, demanding a repayment of debts along with permanent records on every student at the school, including addresses, grades and disciplinary records, loaded onto a flash drive. The story becomes so diffuse, implausible and unpleasant that readers will find all characters unlikable by the end. A series that seemed promising in the first volume and improving in the second becomes muddled here, boding ill for the hint of future volumes when Mac gets to high school. Readers of the previous installments will be eager to see how it all plays out, but they may well be disappointed. (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews