Two mysteries, two stoic dudes

Reality Check by Peter Abrahams

Unlike his girlfriend, Clea, who gets top grades, Cody knows football is his only ticket to college.  And when Clea's father ships her off to a prestigious boarding school in Vermont, Cody knows if he really loves her he shouldn't hold her back.

So he breaks up with her.  Then his knee gets destroyed during a game and college goes up in smoke.  Cody has dropped out and is working for the local lumber yard when he hears the news that Clea has vanished...

Dooley Takes the Fall by Norah McClintock

Ryan Dooley just wants to get through high school.  He's clean now, after a year and a half locked in juvie when a robbery went bad.  Dooley lives with his uncle, a former cop who has made it clear that if Dooley screws up just once, he's on his own.

All this means Dooley's not too thrilled to deal with cops after a kid goes splat off a bridge right in front of him.  Dooley doesn't want them to know that he knew the kid, who was kind of a jerk.  Because that could make Dooley suspect number one -- unless he can uncover the real killer.


I enjoyed both of these books for their straight-to-the-point writing style.  Both feature main characters who are smarter than they think they are; McClintock's Dooley would fit right in with S.E. Hinton's crowd.