Review: Great Book For Teens Who Enjoy Murder Mysteries
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 17, 2014
My sixteen and fourteen year old foster children recently started an eReader book club with nine other friends. We saved up and bought twelve eReaders and then began searching for a book. My son came across this one first and was really excited to try it out. My daughter, who is a bit more leery of 'new books' (as she put it) wasn't sure and wanted to opt for something more well-known. Well we took a vote amidst all of the members and this book one. I'm extremely happy it did- and I'm fairly sure my daughter is too.The book is about four teenagers who witness a murder on an island in Lake Superior. As they leave the island, holding the situation close to their hearts and ever-lasting in their minds, they agree to meet back there in ten days time. The beginning of this book, right from the start- captures your attention. I notice that teen readers specifically seem to be more inclined to appreciate a book if it moves quickly. Slow moving storylines (especially with slow starts) will often bore them and make them want to put the book down. This book kept them flipping pages from the instant they opened the front cover. I don't want to give in too many details about the book's beginning but the murder involves more than just a murder (perhaps treasure?- oh no I gave something more away). This creates less of a tension because there's something else in the picture aside from a death. Yet the underlying suspense of the murder is always evident.As the book proceeds we take an indepth look into each of the four teenagers lives from the time of the murder to the ten days following it. As you can imagine each individual processes traumatic events differently. And all four of the characters experience different emotions, thoughts, and problems. I really liked the way the book was written, because it allowed us to discuss each character differently. Some of our readers related to one character, while others related to another. And we got to take the time to discuss each one differently- which opened up a lot of discussion and created very thoughtful character developement.In ten days time the children return to the island. But that's where my giveaways will end. It's up to you to find out what happens next. What I can say is that this was definitely the perfect choice for our first book for the book club. It was well-written for teenagers ranging from 13 to 16. It was thought-provoking. It moved at an appropriate pace to keep everyone interested. There wasn't anything in the story that I felt was too mature for kids of that age (but to each parent their own, and because of the murder storyline some parents may disagree). In a funny way it sort of reminded me of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. There's always that knowledge that something bad happened- and you're desperate to see how it's resolved. That desperation keeps you moving from paragraph to paragraph with ease.My boy recently took up another book by this author called 'Worst Fears' and he'd highly recommend it as well. It takes a more serious and slightly more suspenseful approach- but is yet another murder mystery. In his words he states "I'd really keep an eye out for future books from this author. He's obviously already made himself into a murder mystery novelist, but I could see him going into other suspenseful genres with ease and success.'All of the kids in the book club really seemed to enjoy this book. And with 11 thumbs up from teens and 1 from me, I'd definitely say give this book a shot.