Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Scanners by Max Elliot Anderson

Scanners. Max Elliot Anderson. TBCN Inc. December 2017. 160 pp. ISBN: 9780938447115. YA Fiction.

We walk into a grocery store, supermarket, clothing store, book store, etc.  We buy an item or items and pay after the bar code is scanned for each item.  We never think twice about how that happens or how it can be misused for criminal purposes.  This is Alex Peterman’s story about how he solves a crime happening in Gilbert’s Grocery Store, owned by Alex’s father.  For several weeks his father has discovered that thousands of dollars are missing each week, particularly on weekends.

Alex and his friends Noah Bates and Tim Price, who also work in the store set about trying to find out who is stealing massive amounts of money.  They also have a project going on at school.  While watching the normal activities in the store, they decide to research the bar codes on every product and also the background of tattoos as one of the deliverers of groceries sports an unusual tattoo.

The story is fairly, evenly paced but picks up when the boys notice some shady events.  Some of it is very funny as the boys in their boredom play some harmless but crazy games in the store’s aisles. 

When they see one particular man sneaking around and looking very suspicious, they think they have their criminal.  Imagine their surprise when they attend a regional food convention and see the same character lurking around.

No spoilers here – keep reading and discover just how bar codes can be used for wrongdoing and how the boys capture the criminals in a dangerous but exciting manner.

Fun read with plenty of suspense and a few good laughs mixed in between the mystery!


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