Book Blog 20: Not If I Kill You First

Carter, A. (2018). Not if I Save You First. New York, NY: Scholastic. ISBN: 1338134140.

Summary:

Maddie thought she and Logan would be best friend’s forever. When you dad is a Secret Service agent and Logan is the President’s son, things can change quickly. On an important night for US and Russian relations, the First Lady is kidnapped, but saved by Maddie’s dad. Logan is also injured. Shortly thereafter, Maddie’s dad backs them up and moves them to Alaska. She and her dad live in the middle of no where for six years. During that time, Maddie has written hundreds of letters to Logan, but he never responded. She is all alone and has lost her best friend.

Logan hasn’t been making wise choices lately. He’s sixteen and sneaks off from his security detail, getting into trouble. His parents do not know what to do with him anymore. For his own protection, they decide to send him to Alaska for a while. When Maddie sees Logan, she realizes she doesn’t know him anymore. She asks him about the letters, and he says he never got them. They hardly speak to each other. Maddie’s dad gets a call for work. He feels he must take the job and has to fly out the next day. He shouldn’t be gone for too long, leaving Maddie and Logan alone. Maddie has chores to do and Logan follows her. Suddenly, they are taken hostage by Stefan. Maddie goes over a cliff. Logan thinks she is dead. Stefan forces Logan to trek through the woods to get to a specific location so he can trade him for his sister. When Maddie comes to, she follows Logan and Stefan and gets herself caught. She has set a trap so they can escape. When the time comes, the trap works, and they find a small cabin to hideaway in for the night. The next day, they go for the satellite phone and are caught by Stefan. Another Russian, who works for the Wolf, a notorious Russian bad guy, appears and is caught. Maddie finds out her father has been taken hostage by the Wolf. Her father killed the Wolf’s son and now he is going to kill her father and the President’s son, when he catches him, for revenge. Maddie is determined to save them. She and Stefan have a plan and set off to save his sister and her father. They walk into the camp and Maddie uses magnesium as a distraction. Stefan is able to get his sister out of harms way. Two of the Wolf’s guards are temporarily knocked out, but the Wolf manages to get Maddie’s dad and put a knife to his throat. There is a scuffle and Maddie’s dad is shot. He collapses to the ground. Logan comes running towards them and kneels in front of the Wolf. Maddie throws her knife killing the Wolf. She tells Stefan to take her dad’s plane and get he and his sister out of there and they leave. The place is soon surrounded by Secret Service agents and others. Maddie’s dad is taken to a hospital and she is back in Washington, D.C. with Logan while her dad undergoes surgery and then recovery. Everything is different for Maddie being in the big city. She isn’t too sure how to handle it. Logan is right by her side lets her know that he is there if anything goes wrong.

Connections:

Maddie and Logan are not who they used to be.  They have both grown and changed over the years since they last saw each other. There is a lot of anger between the two of them. They have a lot to deal with before they can get past what happened to them years ago and what is happening between them now. Havighurt’s Development Stages are shown including their relation as best friends when they were children. Unfortunately, things change and when Maddie has to move away, their friendship is left behind. Maddie tries to keep it going, but for six years, Logan never speaks to her or writes her. Logan’s relationship with his parents has changed. He has pulled away from the and been getting himself into trouble. Because of this, he has to go to Alaska and stay with Maddie and her dad. Both of them have had to deal with a lot and as they are forced to spend time together, they realize just how important they are to each other.

Also, Kohlberg’s Moral Theory is relevant to the story and the development of the characters as well. As young children, they follow the rules and do what they are told.  They know that they will get in trouble if they are doing something they are not supposed to, reflecting their development of the Preconventional and Conventional Stages. The Post-Conventional stage is also present when Logan breaks the rules and is determined to have fun and be a regular kid without the Secret Service following him where ever he goes. He knows it’s breaking the rules, but he does it anyway. Also, when he and Maddie let the bad guy go because he was trying to save his sister’s life as well as helped save their lives in the end, they knew it was against the rules, but did it anyway. The life of the individuals superseded the laws. I really enjoyed this action-packed adventure. I couldn’t put it down until I finished reading it. There were so many twists and turns to the story, trying to figure out how Maddie and Logan were going to get out of the mess they were in alive. I recommend this book for middle school age students and up, due to profanity and violence. Other books by the author include the Gallagher Girls Series, I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You, Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, Don’t Judge a Girl By Her Cover, Only the Good Spy Young, and Out of Sight, Out of Time. A book trailer is available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFEmGRQE9xY.