Cathy's Book: If Found Call 650-266-8233
Grade 8 Up–When Cathy's boyfriend breaks up with her, she is determined to find out what's going on. Set in the San Francisco Bay area, the book tries to do too much. It is written as a mystery, and there are phone numbers to call, Web sites to visit, documents to look at, and doodles to view. But none of it adds up to an interesting story. The plot is almost a rote vampire tale with a family drama thrown in, and it takes forever to get into it. And the use of different fonts and doodles on almost every page makes it hard to read. The book seems intended to draw in gamers or fans of shows likeLostor the filmDonnie Darko, but there are many media-generated worlds that do the job better. This book covers familiar ground, and spicing it up actually does more harm than good.–Amy Patrick, formerly at New York Public LibraryCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.