It is a given that Jason Chaser and his younger brother, Bug, survive the crash that ended the second installment of the Hover Car trilogy, and the outcome of the third and final book is also fairly obvious. The reader knows that Jason will go on to qualify for the New York Masters and can pretty much guess the outcome of that race. The question remaining is how he will pull it off. As before, Jason deals with sabotage, both to his hovercar and his psyche, as well as cutthroat competitors in a narrative now almost solely plot driven. Supporting characters such as mechanic Sally McDuff, mentor Scott Syracuse, and Jason's parents still put in appearances, but that is all that they do-appear. The focus is almost solely on Jason, the race courses-sometimes described in excruciatingly monotonous detail-and the actual races. Reilly maintains his choppy style, often using one-word sentences for emphasis. Although the fragmented writing would never recommend the book as an example of acceptable sentence structure, it provides expressive momentum for the plot. Fewer illustrations by Raimondi give the text more of an emphasis, but overall the narrative is not more challenging. As with the other two titles, this entry would be a good pick for reluctant readers.-Donna Scanlon.