Review: Sinister mystery story for younger teens
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 24, 2013
(Source: Downloaded from Amazon.co.uk for free.)Alison Allbright has very few friends. She keeps to herself, and never lets anyone come to her home because she is ashamed of the fact that she and her parents are poor.One day whilst in the corner shop, Alison's bike is run over by a blue Rolls Royce, and the driver offers to buy her a new bike.When the new bike arrives, it comes courtesy of a lady called Mrs Considine, who seems overly interested in Alison and asks if she may take her out on a daytrip to make amends for the bike.Alison's parents are not overly happy about this, and so Alison sneaks off alone and goes anyway. When Mrs Considine then apologises to Alison's parents, she somehow manages to twist them round her little finger, and next thing you know, she is taking Alison abroad for a holiday!As much as this seems like a fairy tale for Alison, something is not 100% right about Mrs Considine. She claims to have a daughter - Camilla who is studying abroad and looks just like Alison, but then she starts calling Alison by her daughters name, and pretending that Alison is her real daughter.What exactly is going on with Mrs Considine? What does she want with Alison?  And where is Camilla?This was a nice little story, with plenty of mystery surrounding Mrs Considine and Camilla. The reader is kept in the dark about exactly what Mrs Considine is planning, and what happened to Camilla.Alison is probably a little too trusting, and gets really wrapped up in what she feels is a dream come true. She really has no idea that Mrs Considine intentions are a little more sinister.I had a vague idea of where the story was heading, but I didn't guess the details, and I wasn't sure how it was going to end either.It was pretty easy to spot that this story is quite old, as none of the teens had mobile phones, but this didn't matter.Overall; a fairly sinister YA/middle grade mystery. I'd say that 11-12 year olds would really enjoy this.6.5 out of 10.