Joaquin Dorfman and his father, playwright and activist Ariel Dorfman, have shared many experiences, ranging from being arrested and deported during a visit to Chile when Dorfman was age six to writing the collaborative novel Burning City. "Ariel is a lot busier than I am, so I did most of the work", the younger Dorfman quipped to Nadine O'Reagan in an interview for Ireland's Sunday Business Post re- garding the joint work of fiction. "I took care ofthe consonants, he took care of the vowels". Even before cowriting his first novel, Dorfman was no stranger to the world of literature. His first play opened at the Edinburgh Festival when he was nineteen years old, and he also coauthored two screenplays with his father. Dorman moves to solo fiction in Playing It Cool, where readers meet master problem solver Sebastian. Sebastian can fix things, locatepeople, and help make tough decision. Despite the fact that so many people confide in him, however, no one really knows Sebastian. However, when he takes on the task of trackingdown Jeremy's father, the over-competent sleuth must face some of his own personal struggles - including his need for a father that he never knew. Dorfman "writes with a compassion and an energy that will propel rea- ders along", Krista Hutley concluded in her Booklist review of Playing It Cool, while School Library Journal reviewer Susan Oliver considered the book "a sophisticated, mystery/romance/coming-of-age story full of red herrings and elaborate schemes".