Dana Dvorak certainly has plenty going on in her life, but there's always room for a well-meaning, not-quite-ex-priest with a penchant for solving family problems, and in this case, crimes. Written in a very matter-of-fact style, almost like Sgt. Friday from Dragnet, Breakaway delivers a confident young lady into a "boys" sport, with a big dose of can-do attitude. Her father makes a remarkable transition from just short of neglectful to father of the year, aided in large part by his kidnapping at the hands of some would-be terrorists. While the story derails on occasion to spit out an unnecessary number of statistics, overall, Cardinale writes a heartwarming story about the genuine good nature of people. Perhaps a little unnerving is the readiness with which Richard inserts himself into the Dvorak family drama and a counter-terrorism investigation, but at least he turns out to be one of the good guys.

Rating:
★★★★ = I enjoyed this book but would not reread it in the future

Genre: mystery/thriller


Plot:
Local teen Dana meets Richie who is a priest in an unconventional way at the beginning of the book. Later on in the book the priest and Dana's grandfather work with her in order to solve the 'mystery' of the book when a family member of Dana's goes missing.


Pros:
1.) Strong Female lead
2.) I like the religious aspect with the priest involved
3.) Daddy/daughter books are always awesome because I love my Dad!

Cons:
1.) As the mother of a daughter, the way Dana and Richie meet is terrifying. I hope my daughter would have an accident before knocking on a strange mans door! Not that Richie is strange or anything but in todays world, he very well could have been.


My thoughts:
Overall I enjoyed the book. I liked the parts about Dana playing hockey and being just a basic badass girl. I like mysteries that have other aspects going on to think about. I surprised myself and was not able to guess the outcome of this book like I thought I would be able too. I liked the read and would recommend it to friends.