The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin

Nancy Werlin writes young adult suspense fiction. Her best book, in my opinion, was Double Helix, a thriller about a young man who realizes he carries a very interesting and somewhat scandalous genetic history.  I also liked The Killer's Cousin, which dealt with a little girl capable of attempting murder. The Rules of Survival was not quite as good as those, but I still enjoyed it. It's about three kids growing up in South Boston with an extremely unstable, evil, mother. It was a page turner, like most of Werlin's books. I wanted to know when and how the kids would break free of their mom, and so I couldn't stop reading.

Still, it wasn't a completely satisfying read because the characters were not fully developed.I didn't quite understand what made the mother so crazy. I wished for more explanation on that. She was off her rocker but didn't have an identifiable mental illness. The kids weren't colorful enough either--just kids trying to survive.

I did like that Matt, the protagonist (the oldest child) comes to understand that he, like his mother, is capable of great evil. This is something Werlin explores in her writing; that even children have the capacity to commit horrid acts. Humans are also capable of great goodness (as witnessed in the character of Murdoch, who helps the kids), but most humans need a significant push to do great goodness, and spend most of their lives complacent.

If you like suspenseful, dramatic, realistic, and raw fiction, this book might be for you.