Nickel Plated

By: Aric Davis

Narrated by: Nick Podehl

Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

Nickel is a survivor. Raised by the state in abusive foster homes, he escapes at the age of ten to live his life the way his father wanted him to: not as a civilian, but as a warrior. Nickel pays his way by blackmailing pedophiles he tracks down online, selling marijuana to high school students, and working as a private investigator in between. Money talks, but for kids, Nickel works for free. This time, it’s Arrow, a beautiful high school girl, who needs help. She believes that her sister Shelby was kidnapped, even though her parents and the police have written her off as a runaway. Nickel takes the case, scouring the internet and the posh suburban streets to find the missing girl. What he uncovers are children for sale and adults with souls black as the devil. Soon Nickel realizes that finding Shelby is one thing - but surviving is another.

©2011 Aric Davis (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

I am so excited to have discovered a new writer

I absolutely love Nickel and hope to read many more of his adventures. Aric Davis is very gifted in storytelling and I have now read all his books. Just praying he is also prolific...cant wait. Please, please more Nickel.....

You realy feel for Nickel

What about Nick Podehl’s performance did you like?

Good voice for the part. He almost captured that prepubescent pitch in the voice

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes, the turning point for Jeff. His decision to peruse ligament fighting.

Any additional comments?

I love this story, the character is one you really root for.
I think people who say it's unrealistic could say "don't watch Star Trek because it impossible to travel faster than light."
In a story you just have to accept some things or just stop reading fiction.

Everyone Needs a Hero

What made the experience of listening to Nickel Plated the most enjoyable?

The fact that a very young man after going through much suffering himself could turn around & be everyone's hero & wiith great business savy too. He used the tools he found to his advantage which I found uniquely interesting. And he wasn't afraid to be alone .

What other book might you compare Nickel Plated to and why?

Yes.

Have you listened to any of Nick Podehl’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Absolutely. Too many times the young people are given passes just becaue they are young & this author gives voice to another great choice;, & one that takes independence & courage. Similar to the Chris Gravenstein books.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Whe it becam apparent that Nickel knew just what he had to do so he could keep on doing good for others which was anonymity. A tough decision to make for any age..

First I Listened, Then I Thought, Then I Wrote...

I listened to Nickel Plated without knowing the author or the reader. Just on a whim. Actually, I think it was because one reviewer said they thought it would make a good movie.

The story started off okay. I was interested in this young orphan with a dark past trying to help other kids who could become victims as he once had. And, to a certain extent, getting a look at how this kid, Nickel, managed to create an existence by being invisible to adults, especially those adults who might prey on kids like him was very interesting. But then I came up against two issues that, even though I saw the book through to its conclusion, I could not resolve.

The voice of the character- not Nick Podehl, who actually performs the first person narrative- but the manner in which the character relates his story just didn't sound like a 12 year old. Nickel lives in a world of scary adults with really sinister intentions and attempts to fight back against them, but he doesn't talk like a 12-year-old or doesn't seem to display any of the emotional scars that I feel certain would be ever-present given what he was put through. I had to constantly remind myself through the listening that this was a kid. That the author wants me to know that this is a kid even though he wasn't supporting that image.

The other major hurdle that I noticed about a quarter of the way in and from then on couldn't shake was that the author, Aric Davis uses a series of lists to narrate the story. I started to become aware that much of the story was just describing what Nickel did. Like: 'I dialed her phone number, waited, it rang once, then twice. Was she home? I wondered. I waited for her answering machine. Thought better of it. Then I hung up.' This isn't a quote from the book, but a approximation of what I started to notice was making up a large part of my listening experience. If you don't immediately link up with our leading character, you might also feel that this story spends quite a lot of time walking you through a process of a story, step by step but not actually pulling you in.

Maybe that's why that one reviewer said that this story would be an interesting film, because so much of it seems to list the actions taking place. If you could visually see the 12-year-old Nickel doing these things, you could probably get the vibe that this is a child who has been scarred deeply and has carved out this life of a sometime private detective, and occasional super hero out of a painful past. It might be one of those rare instances where the movie is better than the book.

Rough Around the Edges

I was interested in this at first, but it was rough around the ages, which means my interest declined the longer I read.

It’s about a 12 year-old, but the MC sounds more like he’s 30. You can trust me on this, since I spent years working as a middle school librarian, and while I know all kids are very different, this just does not ring true with middle school kids or their brain development, especially since he supposedly dropped out of school at age 9 after a rough childhood, which in most cases would have meant both his social development and education were also stunted or delayed.

I’d have settled for a very mature, older teenager, at minimum, so the voice is definitely off on this. Still, I let that go, because something here caught my attention.

There’s some definite editing issues with this one, and that also bothered me. It changes tenses sometimes, when it shouldn’t. It’s not intentional, or stylistic, which means it is just poor editing. However, I also sucked it up and let that go.

Then there’s long descriptions about things that just don’t matter and don’t help the story forward, like what feels like 50 sentences on making or eating dinner, which isn’t interesting at all and doesn’t speak to the storyline or character development at all. It just ends up being a boring play by play of mundane details in the characters life, but hey, everyone eats, so I tried to let that go.

Then the story tries to tackled too many major issues at once, even though some of the issues were noteworthy and of interest, and the story which started out interesting begins to flail. So I tried to let that go, too.

By the halfway point, I realized I couldn’t keep letting things go and was losing ground and interest in the story. The start was definitely the best part. I do appreciate that this was unexpected and different. I also understand that fiction requires me to suspend disbelief, but this is just so unrealistic and unbelievable that at a certain point, that becomes absolutely impossible.

I reached a point where I couldn’t play along anymore, and absolutely everything seemed unrealistic and illogical after that. As a result, my interest flagged. I almost had to DNF, but since it was a short book, I powered through. With a decent editor, this book probably could have been more readable, but as it is, it just feels too much like an early rough draft.

Well worth checking out

'Nickel Plated' by Aric Davis follows the story of Nickel, a 12 year old abuse survivor who has turned his horrible experiences around to be an avenging angel for abused kids in his neighbourhood. He spends his time hunting down and blackmailing local paedophiles and supplementing this "job" with a home-grown pot business. His latest case involves helping a beautiful high school girl, Arrow, track down her missing sister Shelby, who may have met with foul play.

The story is quick, punchy and never tedious. Even the unrequited love between Nickel and Arrow comes across as genuine without becoming saccharine. I couldn't stop listening; and given I listened to this as a chaser to works of better known authors, that's saying something. It skirts the lines of being a revenge fantasy, without straying into really dark territory

The only mild complaint I would have is that Nickel seems a little too adept at setting up, stalking and dealing with paedophiles. He has an almost James Bondian array of gadgets and knowhow for pre-teen.

Full marks to Nick Podehl for a fantastic job of narration. He really brings the story to life and his various vocal interpretations of the different characters seem authentic for their personalities and age groups. I'd definitely pick up another book with him narrating it.

This one was a real surprise package which more than delivers on entertainment.

THE ENDS JUSTIFIES THE MEANS?

I found this to be an almost ulikely story, considering that although this young man is a survivor; too many factors would have gotten in his way for the story to turn out as it did. Nevertheless, it was entertaining and worth listening to.

Very Good. Would be a great motion picture!

What did you love best about Nickel Plated?

It has a great storyline.

Any additional comments?

It left me wanting more at the end and therefore, feels like there should be a sequel.

I loved this so much!

I wasn't prepared to love this book so much, based on the description. I gave it a go and I'm SO glad that I did! I loved the main character, Nickel, and I did NOT want this book to end! I had a very lengthy car ride that I needed to stay alert for, and it was perfect! The suspense didn't end and the characters are great. I wish so much that this book was a lengthy series so that I could just listen and listen to Nickel's stories.
If the author ever reads these.... PLEASE! Write more Nickel novels!

The world needs more people like Nickel

While this may be marketed as a Young Adult novel, Nickel Plated is a great read for anyone. A nice change of pace from the vampires and dystopion novels that have saturated that category as of late. I don't normally give out such high marks across the board for an author I've never erad before but this one deserves them. By no means a lengthy story its still rich in characters and moving. The narrator Nick Podehl is a new one for me and I thought he did a comendable job on the variety of voices, accents, and ages.