JBA Post #7: Hero, Mike Lupica

I know Mike Lupica is a relatively popular author, but this is the first book of his that I've ever read. I thought most of his novels were about sports, but this one was not.

Hero is about a boy named Zach Harriman. He lives in New York with his mom and his dad, even though his dad is often out of town on confidential missions for the government. Zach doesn't know much about what his dad does, but he considers him a sort of hero. But, his dad dies in a plane crash in the beginning of the novel, leaving Zach with a lot of questions about his life. Zach feels like his dad's death wasn't an accident and he vows to figure out what actually happened.

This quest leads Zach to Montauk, on the outer edges of Long Island, and introduces him to Mr. Herbert, a mysterious old man that enlightens him to the fact that his dad was not only a hero in the sense that he saved people's lives, but also in the sense that he had magic powers - like a superhero. These powers have been passed on to Zach!

As Zach struggles to figure out what this realization means for his future, he learns more and more about his dad - his dad was going to run for Vice President - and meets plenty of villains. Will Zach be able to save the world and avenge his father's death?

The novel was hard to put down in the beginning; I was so curious about what happened to Zach's father, but then it kind of felt like it all felt together too quickly. I wasn't really satisfied with the ending or with what Zach learned about his father's actual death. Overall, it was a good book, I was just a little disappointed in the ending.