Jordan Bellemare is a recipe for disaster: a 13-year-old boy at a new high school in a new town, with no father on the scene, no friends, and a gang of cool guys who hold out the lure of acceptance for the price of a little cheating and theft. Weighing in on the other side are a part-native girl named Jessica, who writes science-fiction novels after school, and an octogenarian neighbour, Mrs. (or Countess?) von Loewen, who hires Jordan as a gardener and handyman. These two allies only make Jordan’s situation worse, as he gets taunted about his weird “girlfriend,” and we can see the gang’s plan to rob the countess coming a mile away. Her generosity, her fabulous strings of pearls, and the mysterious crystal skull buried in her garden make her a sitting duck for testosterone-addled boys with cash-flow problems.

Kids in a tough spot are familiar territory for Paul Kropp, a Toronto writer for young readers with 39 titles to his credit. This one reflects Kropp’s professionalism, and is briskly paced with a likeable protagonist and some thoughtful asides about life and growing up. Jordan’s situation is a bit of a YA fiction cliché, but it will connect with readers across North America who live, like Jordan, in generic subdivisions on the outskirts of “downtown nowhere.”

At 144 pages (plus a teacher’s guide that will be available), the novel is a quick read that may have the fainthearted (like me) flipping forward to make sure everything comes out all right. It does, and Jordan learns some lessons: popularity isn’t everything, being different isn’t a sin, and when someone sees your best side and admires you for it, that’s golden.