My eleven-year-old and I both agree that we liked 96 Miles. Esplin has a solid voice and writing style that I feel would transfer very well to adult fiction. I‘ve seen some complaints that the antagonists are bit tame, but if Esplin‘s target audience is middle grade then I feel that is a small flaw in an otherwise well-rounded story. There are some truly suspenseful moments and some great character building. I found the end particularly solid.