The Perfect Shot by Elaine Marie Alphin | Teen Ink

The Perfect Shot by Elaine Marie Alphin

November 8, 2009
By KarianaGold PLATINUM, Tucson, Arizona
KarianaGold PLATINUM, Tucson, Arizona
42 articles 3 photos 12 comments

Favorite Quote:
The grass may be greener on the other side but sometimes when you get there you realize that he flowers were prettier back home.


We live in a great country; a great country with horrible flaws. Racism and a flawed legal system and people who want it changed. The question is: Can we change it? Or is it as perfect as we can get it?
In The Perfect Shot by Elaine Marie Alphin, Brian Hammett tries to figure out the answer to this question as he attempts to figure out who really murdered his girlfriend Amanda Daine, her six year old brother Cory and her mother. The problem is that a suspect is already on trial, Former Police Officer and Amanda's father Michael Daine.
Brian doesn't believe that Mr. Daine could hurt Amanda or anyone else for that matter. He figures that the American system of law wouldn't make an innocent man go to prison for a crime he didn't commit.
Then in History class Brian is given an assignment (one that Amanda would have loved). His teacher tells the class to do a presentation about preventing mistakes in history from repeating. Some groups are given wars, but Brian who is paired with Todd Pollian, a nerd that his friends pick on, are given the 1913 case in Atlanta of Leo Frank.
Leo Frank was wrongly convicted for the murder of a thirteen year old girl.
Of course, this project makes Brian think of Amanda even more. He starts to realize that the system is flawed. Then his best friend gets arrested for making a wrong turn and ending up in an all white neighborhood. Now he knows that without a major change in Mr. Daine's case he will be sent to prison for the rest of his life.
On the day of Amanda's murder some cops came to Brian's door. Brian, who had been playing basketball on his driveway, had seen only three people pass Amanda's house, a neighbor, Mr. Daine coming home, and an unidentified jogger in a grey sweatshirt. He tells the police this and assumes that they follow up on the jogger.
One day Todd came to Brian and said that he needed to tell the court about the jogger, because Mr. Daine was convicted. But will telling the truth came at a price?


The author's comments:
I started this book as a school assignment, but it became much more...

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This article has 1 comment.


Marcus said...
on Mar. 8 2015 at 1:02 pm
It's always good to try to get to the truth of any matter especially when one truth prevents a conviction and years of imprisonment. However, this judicial system in America is filled with flaws and eyes of justice that has a hatred for people of color and to believe sharing information to assist a system drenched in corruption is like breast feeding a baby who has already been weened off the breast. It doesn't make sense and won't make a difference. The weened baby will continue the drink the milk and the process is peddling backwards. The newfound material will be heard but will it be submitted into evidence because the lawyers work together in coming to what they consider a reasonable conviction based on the facts as they know it to be. However, unless the individual was related to me, I wouldn't touch the case with additional information for nothing in this world.