The Bloodwater Mysteries: Snatched by Pete Hautman and Mary Logue
Sunday, September 28th, 2008
Bloodwater mansion is cursed, or so they say. Tragic deaths have haunted every family that has lived there. Now the young, beautiful Alicia, whose family has recently moved into the mansion, has disappeared, only a few days after she had been brutally beaten by a lurking stranger on the property. Does the curse really exist? What is the secret of this mysterious mansion?
P.Q. Delicata, or as she perfers, Roni, is the crime reporter for the Bloodwater Pump, the High School Newspaper, and her nose for the news smells a story. She’s a bit obsessive and she can definitely be overpowering. She’s now waiting to talk to the principal because her attempt to interview Alicia about the mysterious beating turned into a scuffle. This, only hours before Alicia goes missing.
Brian Bain, a smart, observant kid with a penchant for foul smelling experiments in the High School lab is in trouble again. He’s a bit of a tagalong and capable of sudden insight. Also wating in the Principal’s office, in the wrong place at the wrong time, he meets Roni for the first time. Obsessed with a story which she can’t let go, she drags Brian into her investigation, which she is sure the police have wrong. It doesn’t help Brian resist the unavoidable entanglement in Roni’s investigation that his mother is the cop investigating the crime, because that makes Brian into another source of information for Roni.
He took a closer look at the girl driving the car. She was hunched over the wheel, driving fast, her eyes bright with excitement. Did he want to get mixed up with some crazy girl reporter, middle name Quigley, chasing after dangerous kidnappers? Did he want to risk being grounded for all of eternity? Or did he want to go home and eat tuna melt sandwiches and listen to his father describe a new type of bovine pustule infestation?
He thought about it for three more seconds.
“What’s the plan?” he asked.
Together, this unlikely pair set out to find their missing schoolmate.
Snatched is a quick paced, compelling mystery that young adults and adults will enjoy. The first in the Bloodwater Mystery series, it is followed by Skullduggery and Doppelganger. Noted authors Pete Hauptman and Mary Logue have these two sleuths just right. The chemistry between them is compelling and the dialogue is fast and funny. The plot is full of twists and surprising revelations. They kept me guessing right to the end and the quick pace.
I recommend this one strongly. I’ve already read the second in the series -Skullduggery- and it is excellent, as well. I’m going to be quickly heading out for the third – Doppelganger. From these two writers I expect that it, too, will be a first rate, entertaining read.
The Bloodwater Mysteries: Snatched
ISBN: 978-0142407950
