In the third and final installment of the Fourth Stall saga, Mac and Vince are pulled back into the world of organized crime at their middle school. Life seemed simple for a while. Seventh grade had started, and Mac and Vince were no longer running their syndicate out of the fourth stall in the east-wing boys' bathroom. Their service had been to help middle schoolers with their problems…for a price. But Jimmy Two-Tone moves in to reopen it, offering a 15-percent cut to Mac and Vince since they had built the business in the first place. "[R]isk-free money," Mac thinks, until Jimmy's operation gets out of hand, and Jimmy finds himself in over his head. All of a sudden a higher power makes a play, demanding a repayment of debts along with permanent records on every student at the school, including addresses, grades and disciplinary records, loaded onto a flash drive. The story becomes so diffuse, implausible and unpleasant that readers will find all characters unlikable by the end. A series that seemed promising in the first volume and improving in the second becomes muddled here, boding ill for the hint of future volumes when Mac gets to high school. Readers of the previous installments will be eager to see how it all plays out, but they may well be disappointed. (Fiction. 8-12)

Though seventh graders Mac and Vince have technically retired from their lucrative but dangerous middle-school detective business, they can't refuse when a new kid offers them easy money for letting him take over. However, things quickly spiral out of control, and the duo must save their school from a mysterious new criminal mastermind in this entertaining tale.

After making huge sacrifices for their middle school organized crime business, Mac and Vince have decided to get out for good. But, as in most gangster tales, going straight proves to be easier said than done. Old enemies who may have turned into allies, customers that will not go away, and new and intriguing business leaders ensure that the middle school wise guys will not stand a chance at keeping away from "the life" this year.Noir and middle school hijinks have never been so delightfully combined as in Rylander's The Fourth Stall series, and this episode may be the most thrilling of all. Mac's voice will pull readers in from the first paragraph, and Rylander's expert pacing will keep them engaged until the last aside. Mac is a believable antihero who cares deeply about his friends and obligations while committing only the most justifiable of crimes. Although the protagonist is serious and contemplative for a seventh grader, the plot is a madcap adventure full of unanticipated twists and hilariously quirky secondary characters. This book can be read independently of the others, but most young people will want to read them all. This is recommended for all collections and for readers who enjoy action, intelligent characters, mystery, and humor.Liz Sundermann.

In this continuation of the Fourth Stall series, Mac and Vince are now in seventh grade and have shut down their advisory business. But then they get an offer they can't refuse and make the mistake of "selling" the business to a punky classmate. After a remorseful old nemesis enters the scene, Mac and Vince try to help his nemesis's little sister o turns out to be running an advisory business of her own at another school. Rylander keeps up the delightful, boycentric beat, mixing bravado, embarrassments, and wisecracks with real wisdom.