What We’re Reading

Behind the Curtain: an Echo Falls Mystery | Peter Abrahams

Rating:

Ingrid Levin-Hill’s life has taken a turn for the dreary. Her brother, Ty, has started bulking up for the football team, and his attitude has taken a turn for the worse. After being called to help him spot one day (not a fun deal–he was lifting way too much weight for Ingrid to actually assist with), Ingrid also notices his back is covered in acne–not usual for him–but doesn’t know what to make of it.

Her father, the handsomest dad in Echo Falls, has changed into a shadow of himself. Working all the time, never really hearing what she says, dark around the eyes, cranky. She’s sure it has something to do with the paper that was hidden in the trash–the one announcing a new hire at the Ferrand Group, where he works, but since she’s not supposed to know about that she can’t bring it up.

Meanwhile, their assistant soccer coach has taken off to Europe and has been replaced by the rather sinister Julia LeCaine, who nails Coach Ringer in the head with a ball and afterwards feigns innocence. As Ingrid was the only girl to see her hit said ball, she keeps her mouth shut. Her mind is silently putting together pieces.

Add in a mysterious Mexican pill bottle found in her childhood treehouse, a missing DVD player in Ty’s room and new one at Sean Rubino’s, a shifty orderly at the hospital, and a kidnapping Ingrid can find no proof for though she knows it happened to her, and you’ve got more than enough for anyone to handle, let along a middle school sleuth. But Ingrid calls on her mind, and her memory of The Complete Sherlock Holmes, and slowly but surely puts it all together.

A really fun read. Any mystery/detective story fan should definitely pick this up.

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