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Hope it’s not to late to join. Just read Faker. Honestly, I was disappointed. It started off great, with a clear reference to a I Want To Go Home story element, the ball kick in the woods to escape – with a fellow classmate named Rudy as well. I absolutely loved the book’s plot and characters as well. But then we get to the question:

. What was different about FAKER? What makes it stand out more than all the other Gordon Korman books?

 Unfortunately,  the ending. I like my GK endings. I call them Kormancapolypses, where everything in the book comes together in the end. I was waiting for this one, where there is a huge confrontation with the FBI, with a grand mixup of the criminals, with both of them trying to scam one another (maybe a Beware the Fish style ending)? Or the emailer being the old friend Rudy? Either way, the ending that we got was way short of epic. At the very least,  Trey should have snitched on his father. Instead it felt like there were no stakes raised. It was like “dad, let’s not” and he says “ok”? And the fathers instant conversion to being a good dad after years of being a manipulative narcissistic criminal felt forced and unlikely. Had Trey actually left the ending would have been more realistic. Honestly, the ending was such a letdown that I wonder if GK had an alternative ending and Scholastic made him change it.

Other than the ending, it was a very well written book. I really liked the characters.