Hello, i began reading this book on February 4th and finish March 1st of 2023. This is the second book in the Mickey Bolitar series and I have already read and reviewed the first book. I have one more book in this series to read and then I’ll be done! I actually own this book and purchased it from half-price book stores.
FULL STORY:
Mickey is talking to the Bat Lady about a photograph. He is taken aback because the last thing The Bat Lady told him was that his dad wasn’t dead. Mickey tries to balance himself by remembering the facts: he’s a sophomore at Kasselton High, his dad is dead, his mom is in rehab, and he lives with his uncle Mickey. In the picture is a picture of the Butcher of Lodz, a Nazi who killed his father. The Bat Lady asks Mickey to recall what happened the day his father died. He and his father were driving when a car crossed the divider and crashed into their car. Mickey saw his dad being helped by the EMT. The EMT looked at Mickey when his father passed and they took him away on the gurney. The man in the photograph, The Butcher of Lodz, is the paramedic that helped Mickey’s dad. That can’t be possible because he would be over 90 years old. The Bat Lady gets upset because he doesn’t remember correctly. She forcibly yells at him to get out.
Mickey tells Ema what happened. She looks at it rationally and points out that Mickey kept describing the paramedic as having green eyes, but the photograph is in black and white. Theres no way to tell what color his eyes are. Before Ema leaves, she tells Mickey that she does believe him. Mickey offers to walk Ema home, but Ema has always kept her address hidden from him. Although the two of them have gotten closer, he understands there’s some things they keep secret from each other. Mickey is trying out for basketball on Monday. He and Myron bond over that. Myron hasn’t talked to Mickey’s dad in years because he disapproved of Mickey’s mom. While they are shooting, Myron gets a call and goes to the side. Mickey takes the opportunity to text Rachel and Spoon. Spoon doesn’t answer because he’s grounded due to the events of the last book. Rachel tells Mickey she’ll call him later. When Myron gets back, he seems distant and has to leave. He says that a friend of his that he hadn’t talked to in ages needs a favor. Myron leaves. Rachel calls Mickey and she feels uneasy. She’s still worried that it’s not over yet. Mickey wants to work on their assignment because they’re partners. Suddenly, Rachel needs to get off the phone and Mickey thinks he heard her gasp. She tells him she will see him tomorrow.
Mickey is having a dream about his parents when there’s a knock on the door. Myron isn’t getting the door, so Mickey finally wakes up. It’s the police and there’s been a shooting. Mickey searches through the house for Myron but he isn’t there. He puts on some clothes and checks his phone. Ema had an idea about the paramedic and Myron texted him that he had to leave early. He calls Myron to tell him about the cops and realizes he doesn’t know where they’re going. He still goes with the “Cops” and asks who was shot. The cop is confused how he knows someone was shot and Mickey tells him that he said there was a shooting. He is taken to a police station and asked some questions by a homicide investigator and Chief Taylor. He opts out of his guardian being there because he doesn’t think his mom could handle it.
In short, after Mickey finished talking to Rachel, someone shot her in the head. She’s still alive but her mom is dead. They are really interrogating him, but Myron comes in time and the detective suddenly stops asking questions. When Mickey gets to school, he tells Ema what happened with the police. She’s worried they may be in danger too. Mickey realizes that Rachel told him that her mom lives in New Jersey so why was her mom there to get shot? Spoon learns from his dad, the janitor, which hospital Rachel is at. Spoon wants to figure out who did this to Rachel. Mickey is interested in helping but Ema is acting strangely.
Mickey goes to shoot some shots and sees a flyer for basketball tryouts. He doesn’t want anyone to know he’s good at basketball, so he practices at a gym far away from school. He sees the black car with Shaved Head in it. He is a member of the Abeona shelter. Mickey’s parents, The Butcher of Lodz, and now the three of them are also a part of it with The Butcher of Lodz being the leader. They save children in precarious situations. Shaved Head doesn’t have any information about Rachel but tells Mickey not to tell Myron about Abeona shelter.
They get to the hospital and are unable to just walk through the front door to Rachel’s room. Spoon leads them to another door and a janitor answers the door. Through the secret janitorial network, he knows Spoon. He lets them in and makes sure Spoon knows if they get in trouble to not say anything about his involvement. He assumes that Rachel might be on floor 5 or 6 since she’s under 18. The trio gets to floor 5 and sees the Abeona shelter butterfly on the doors of a room. They think it must be a sign. Mickey plans to go by himself. He walks down the hall and gets stopped by a nurse. On the second go round, Spoon is going to use his scrubs and stethoscope as a disguise, but Ema wants to make a few changes. They create a diversion that allows Mickey to slip away into Rachel’s room. She is upset about her mom and insists she got her killed. She isn’t very forthcoming with Mickey. Suddenly, Chief Taylor comes so Mickey hides under her bed. Their conversation is very tense, and he informs her that someone is going to come and talk to her later. She doesn’t have to tell them anything. Mickey finds the conversation weird because why wouldn’t Chief Taylor want Rachel to tell the homicide investigator what happened. A nurse comes to get Rachel, so Mickey has to hold onto the bars underneath her bed. She’s able to convince the nurse to go back and get her stuffed bears. This gives Mickey a chance to get off from underneath the bed and ask more questions. Rachel doesn’t want to answer anything right now though. Chief Taylor sees Mickey as he’s leaving. If you forgot, Chief Taylor is Troy, Rachel’s boyfriend, father. They get home and Mickey wants to go to The Bat Lady house. He knocks on the door but no answer. It’s strange because The Bat Lady usually has a light on in her bedroom. Ema, as always, suddenly leaves. Finally letting curiosity beat him, Mickey asks Spoon what he knows about Ema. Spoon’s only heard rumors but her dad is a drunk who hits her. They continue walking home with Mickey promising to tell Spoon about Abeona shelter.
When he gets home, Myron wants to take him somewhere. He’s going to be away a little bit and wants to share why with Mickey. He takes him to Angelica Wyatt’s house. Before we learn what Angelica Wyatt has to do with Myron, we learn that Angelica Wyatt and Kitty, Mickey’s mom, were good friends when they were young and famous. Kitty was a successful tennis player and Angelica Wyatt was a starlet. When she was 16, she got pregnant with Mickey and had to end her career. Mickey believes people like Myron forced her to end it. Angelica Wyatt gets called away with a phone interview, so they leave. Myron is helping out Abeona shelter and looking out for her. The confusion leads to Mickey finally asking Myron why he couldn’t just let his parents be happy and they could all be a happy family. Myron simply replies that there’s always consequences to being a hero.
Mickey sees a new coverage about Rachel. He still wonders why she told him that she lived with her dad and why she wouldn’t tell him that her mom was there. Mickey and Ema meet up. She digitized and modernized the picture of The Butcher of Lodz and showed it to a source of hers that she won’t share the name of. Spoon comes and Ema is hesitant to continue the story, but Mickey tells her it’s okay because he’s a part of it. they ran a search on that picture of any paramedic at that time and there is no trace of him at all. Mickey is surprised because he knows he remembers that face so who was that guy. Mickey asks his teacher about The Butcher of Lodz. He was a ruthless killer during the war. There’s a story of a girl named Lizzy Sobek. Majority of her family was killed at the extermination camp Auschwitz. Her story though is unknown because after she arrived at Auschwitz, there is no trace of her in factual history. There are legends about her going back and saving a bunch of kids, but no one knows if it’s true because of course kids can make up details. However, Mickey thinks it might have been her because one of the kids drew a picture of a lone girl standing on a hill and she was surrounded by dozens of butterflies. His teacher doesn’t really believe the story because there’s no way there would be butterflies in Poland in the wintertime. But allegedly the butterflies led the children to safety. It all ends with Lizzy dying at the hands of The Butcher of Lodz. We know this isn’t true because Lizzy is The Bat Lady, and her father was murdered by The Butcher of Lodz.
Mickey goes to basketball tryout. Rachel texts him and wants him to come to her house tomorrow after school. Her dad will be back by 4 and she doesn’t want anyone to know they talked. Mickey likes her but tries not to be jealous about certain stuff. Before he leaves, the JV coach tells Mickey that the varsity coach wants to speak with him during lunch tomorrow. After tryouts he goes to play a pickup game in Newark. He and his friend Tyrell are The last ones on the court when Tyrell’s dad comes to take them home. His dad is an investigator and the last time he and Mickey talked, it was because Spoon was following Him. This time they talk about Rachel, and he asks about Rachel ‘s parents. The last time he gave Mickey his card and this time he told Mickey to put him on speed dial because he feels like he’s going to need him.
When Mickey gets home, he tries to do a little search about The Butcher of Lodz, but he doesn’t find anything. He realizes he noticed something different about Ema and texts her. He asked her if she wanted to go to The Bat Lady house with him but unusually, she can’t sneak out tonight. She volunteers to go tomorrow but he can’t go because he has to meet Rachel and he has part two of tryouts. He’s gonna go without her and she tells him to be careful because she has a bad feeling. Mickey goes to The Bat Lady’s house and still doesn’t receive an answer. He notices a light on which was different from earlier. He hears music playing but still got no answer. He goes to the backyard and sees a tombstone. It has the initials “E.S.” on it but it could’ve been The Bat Lady, or her mom, or her brother as they all shared the same initials. Theres also a red x on the back of the tombstone where the butterfly of the Abeona shelter is crossed out. He hears noise again and bangs on her door but gets no answer. When he looks up, he sees The Butcher of Lodz. He decides to break in and searches through the house but can’t find The Butcher of Lodz. Instead, he sees pictures of The Bat Lady and her family. He calls Myron to meet him at The Bat Lady’s house. Suddenly, hands came from under the bed and pulled Mickey down. The Butcher of Lodz set the house on fire. Mickey barely makes it out
Chief Taylor arrests Mickey. Once at the police station, Angelica Wyatt talks to Chief Taylor and now Mickey doesn’t have to spend the night in prison. While Myron finishes some paperwork, Angelica Wyatt and Mickey talk. She wants him to forgive his uncle because adults make mistakes that they regret. She is saying this speech as if she knows more about what happened than Mickey realizes. Mickey still doesn’t trust Myron enough to tell him why he was at The Bat Lady house. He does tell Myron that he wants to have his father’s body moved closer to him. Mickey tells Myron that he needs closure, but we know it’s because he never actually saw his father’s body in the coffin and he’s thinking about what the Bat Lady said. Myron will look into it.
Mickey talks to the basketball coach. He wants him to attend varsity tryouts that afternoon. Mickey tells Ema and Spoon what the coach wanted. Spoon has a theory that The Butcher of Lodz tried to kill Rachel and might be after all of them. They ask if Mickey has had contact with Rachel. He does admit it, but he doesn’t tell them he’s meeting with her. Mickey’s teacher gives him a photo of The Butcher of Lodz. Unfortunately, Mickey didn’t recognize the guy in the picture as The Butcher of Lodz. She got the picture from the National Holocaust Museum.
Mickey goes to Rachel’s house. He sees Chief Taylor leaving the house looking scared. When he asks Rachel, she dismisses this as Chief Taylor talking to her dad a lot and not telling her anything. She still doesn’t know who attacked her. Mickey also realizes that Rachel has been working with Abeona shelter from the beginning. Rachel explains that her dad told her that her mom had a manic episode and has always suffered from mental health issues. She has been in and out of hospitals since Rachel was a child. On this recent visit, Rachel decided to start meeting with her mom secretly. She wondered if her dad had made her mom crazy. That night, her mom was downstairs because her dad was supposed to be out of town. When she was on the phone with Mickey, she heard a female and male voice. She recognized the woman’s voice as her mom’s. Before we learn anything else, Rachel’s dad comes home and holds a gun to Mickey. He’s on edge considering his daughter just got attacked. Mickey is suspicious if Rachel’s dad shot her. As Mickey is leaving, he sees Shaved Head. Shaved Head asks if that’s Rachel’s house. Mickey feels uneasy especially when he sees Rachel’s dad happily get in the car.
At basketball tryouts, Mickey learns that he is being kicked off the team because Chief Taylor told coach all the shit he’s done in the past couple of weeks. It is a violation of the student conduct handbook they have. Outside, Mickey updates Ema and Spoon on everything. As they’re walking home, Ema rushes off after Mickey thinks he sees a bruise on her. He decides to follow her home. He ends up at Angelica Wyatt’s house. Angelica Wyatt is Ema’s mom. She started rumors about herself so people wouldn’t fake being her friend. She doesn’t know who her father is. Mickey tells her he knew something was weird because Ema’s tattoos were changing and smudging. Ema has a tattoo artist who puts on fake tattoos for her. The only one that won’t come off for some reason is the butterfly.
Mickey decides to go meet his scrimmage basketball friend so he can talk to his dad. His dad would’ve been investigating Rachel’s incident, but he was working on a drug ring instead. However, when he and Mickey talked, he asked a lot of questions and may know more information. The friend’s dad definitely knows a lot about Shaved Head. He warns Mickey to stay away from him because Shaved Head is dangerous.
Myron is furious to hear that Mickey got kicked off the basketball team. Though he wants to help, Mickey insists that it’s his battle and not Myron’s. Regarding the exhumation of Mickey’s dad, Myron can’t because they need a better reason. Mickey finally admits that he doesn’t think his dad is in the coffin. Myron comments that his dad went to The Bat Lady’s house once and was never the same afterwards. Before Mickey can explain further, Angelica Wyatt texts Myron so he has to leave. Ema and Mickey meet up at The Bat Lady’s house. They hug and Mickey has to convince himself the warmth he feels is because they are really good friends. He updates her on his conversation with his friend’s dad. They think Shaved Head is a bad guy and Rachel’s father is up to something. Their working theory is that he had her, and her mom shot because they knew too much. They begin digging through the rubble and Mickey finds a tunnel. It has the picture of the girl they were trying to save in the last book, Ashley. The back of the photo has the same butterfly that was on Rachel’s door. Mickey believes he knows where Rachel hid the package. Mickey calls Spoon and they meet up at the school. Ashley’s locker has a different lock, so they suspect that is where Rachel hid the package. Spoon brings everyone lion king masks. They get to the locker and Spoon breaks the lock. They find the package of money and drugs. Before they can leave, Shaved Head and his buddy shows up. They demand the bag. They thought Rachel’s mom had the bag, which is why she died. They traced Rachel’s phone and realized she called Mickey before the event, so they’ve just been following him. They get the bag but don’t leave, they need to do something because the kids have seen their faces. Suddenly, Spoon leans forward towards Shaved Head and the gun goes off. Spoon is on the ground bleeding. They manage to wrestle the gun away after some time. Ema pressed the panic button that automatically puts the school in a lockdown. As Ema is checking Spoon, the police are approaching, and Mickey has a gun trained on Shaved Head. The police come and question everyone. Shaved Head and his guy were arrested. Mickey tells the police everything that happened.
They try to go visit Spoon, but his mom doesn’t want Mickey near him. Mickey is Spoon’s first real friend in a long time, and he practically worships him. She’s mad because Mickey almost got her son killed. She wants them to leave but Spoon’s dad tells them that Spoon woke up and wants to talk to Mickey. Spoon helps Mickey realize that Shaved Head had asked him where Rachel’s house was earlier. If Rachel’s dad owed Shaved Head that money and drugs, wouldn’t he have been to Rachel’s house before. Also, if Shaved Head shot Rachel, he would know exactly where she lives. The doctor kicks Mickey out as Spoon is getting agitated. He wants Mickey to keep going and protect Ashley and Rachel.
Ema and Mickey now think Rachel’s dad shot her because she stole his drug money. It isn’t a full theory because they’re missing where Chief Taylor fits into this and truly, who shot Rachel. Rachel calls and she’s upset that Mickey got caught with the bag. Chief Taylor tells her that Shaved Head and his guy murdered her mom and shot her. The ballistics test will prove this. Mickey is immediately suspicious because how would Chief Taylor know what the ballistics test will prove. Rachel asks if her dad could have shot her, and Mickey considers it as a possibility. She’s slightly worried because Chief Taylor and her dad are super close and keeping something from her. She has a plan and wants Mickey’s help. Mickey updates Ema on Rachel’s plan. Before he leaves, he sees a program on the screen about Dylan Shaykes. Dylan Shaykes was a 9year old boy who was kidnapped and never seen again. His father, William, was a suspect but police could never find enough evidence for him. Dylan Shaykes was on milk cartons and the news a lot. Mickey also recognizes the face because he saw a picture of Dylan Shaykes at The Bat Lady’s house. Rachel’s plan is for them to sneak into Chief Taylor’s house and look at the files he kept at home. She’s going to distract her ex-boyfriend, Chief Taylor’s son, and Ema and Mickey will look in the files. In the files, Mickey finds out who killed Rachel’s mom and shot her. Mickey doesn’t want to share with Ema. Angelica Wyatt and Myron want Ema and Mickey to go home. He’s okay with this because he wanted some alone time anyways. When he gets home, he calls Rachel’s dad and has him meet him at the basketball courts. He tells her dad to make sure he’s wearing basketball shorts because he wants to make sure he isn’t armed.
Mickey saw that Rachel’s mom had gun residue in her hand. In short, Rachel went downstairs because she heard her parents arguing. Her mom, off her meds and still incredibly mentally sick, shot Rachel. She thought she had killed her. As dad was consoling Rachel, mom shot herself. Chief Taylor was there to hide all of this from Rachel. They don’t want Rachel to think that it’s her fault she got shot and her mom committed suicide. Rachel helped her mom get out of the mental hospital and convinced her mom to get off her meds. Rachel’s dad begs Mickey not to tell Rachel because it would destroy her. This isn’t the first time her mom has hurt her though Rachel doesn’t consciously remember each time. While Mickey was talking to Rachel’s dad, Myron was hiding out as backup. Mickey asks for some advice if he should tell Rachel the truth. He ultimately decides to tell her, but we don’t get her reaction as the book ends there. Mickey is now back on the basketball team after Chief Taylor told the coach that all charges were dropped. Sidenote, Myron and Chief Taylor played together in basketball. Mickey goes to Dylan Shaykes’s funeral. He sees a guy go in and follows him out. Dylan Shaykes is Shaved Head. The Bat Lady is still alive and she’s going to have another assignment for him soon. Lastly, Mickey and Myron are flying out to California to get Mickey’s dad’s body.
NOTES:
- Mickey is really telling the cops anything they want to hear.
- I just realized that I’m on chapter 36 and nothing has really happened in this book. Unfortunately, I feel like this is going to be a rushed ending sort of book. Maybe it’s because author was going to write a third book, so this was meant to be a filler.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Ehhh the first one was better. This was definitely written with a third book in mind.
Do I want to read that? 