Review of Sherry Ficklin's Newest Release, Military Brats, After Burn

February 21, 2011

Description:  Reece Barnet and her father have just relocated to sunny North Carolina, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point to be exact. It's another new town and another new school. But just as Reece is starting to fit in, a rash of bomb threats rocks her father's experimental aircraft squadron. When the authorities track the threats to Reece's school, she decides to do some investigating of her own. Unfortunately, the more she digs, the more it looks like her new boyfriend is the culprit.

When the unthinkable happens and her father is rushed to the hospital, it becomes a race against time as Reece fights to protect her father, clear her boyfriend, and discover the surprising truth of the person behind it all!



Review:  With Military Brats, Afterburn, the first novel in her second YA fiction series, Sherry Ficklin has firmly established her rightful place as an author who understands teenagers and the complex nature of their lives. She has a keen understanding of their desires, dreams, and the intense relationships that are part and parcel of their world. Her characters are at once recognizable but made real by their quirks and short-comings.

Ms. Ficklin has created in her protagonist, Reece, a fully realized character whose moral compass made her a social pariah in her last school but even with the pressures of fitting into a new school and a new military base she doesn’t sway from living her own truth no matter what the cost.

Although the novel is ultimately a coming-of-age story masterfully interwoven with an intriguing mystery, Ms. Ficklin doesn’t shy away from dealing with the all too real issues of losing a parent, social cliques, mental illness, abuse and the unique stress children of military personnel are faced with in a country at war.

Military Brats balances these darker subjects with Sherry’s trademark humour, succinct dialogue and page turning action.

Those readers familiar with Sherry’s work won’t be disappointed in her newest offering and I have no doubt she will attract even more fans with this, her latest YA series released by Rebel Ink Press.

Title: After Burn
Series: Military Brats Book One
Author: Sherry D. Ficklin
Genre: Young Adult/Contemporary/Mystery
Publisher: Rebel Ink Press
Author Website: http://www.sherryficklin.com/?q=node/56