GIVING TO THE POOR

Robbie Forester, aided by her magic charm and multicultural band of do-gooders, Tut-Tut, Ashanti and Silas, again battles evil developer Sheldon Gunn and his nefarious underlings (Robbie Forester and the Outlaws of Sherwood Street, 2012).

Silas, a home-schooled genius who is a master of arcane subjects but scores low on emotional intelligence and physical ability, discovers that his estranged father, Jim Wilders, an expert in Native American culture, is protesting Gunn’s proposed new building, a huge tower. Not only will it block out acres of sun, the site could also have been ancestral grounds for an Indian tribe. After Robbie and company find Indian bones on the site, Wilders is murdered. The thriller then moves into warp speed, maintaining its high-adrenaline tension until the happy resolution. Haitian immigrant Tut-Tut, the most soulful character in the first book, plays almost no role in this story, as he’s sidelined early after being picked up by the INS. This gives author Abrahams room to develop Ashanti and Silas, who are more fully formed in this go-round. When an important element of a story is a magic charm that responds to injustice, credibility shouldn’t be an issue, but coincidence abounds, and readers may find the bad guys too demonic to be real.

Still, a fast-paced ride that should appeal to both boys and girls.