Customer Reviews

Behind the Curtain (Echo Falls Mystery)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Once again Peter Abrahams returns to the world of Echo Falls, where young Ingrid Levin-Hill is just trying to get by, navigating the slippery slopes of being a kid in the 21st century. While basically she's got a warm and protective family, there's always some friction going on, just like real life. In this book Ty's problem with anabolic steroids becomes more and more the center of Ingrid's worries. She notices things about him her mom and dad are just to preoccupied to see, or too blind, for they're proud of him and his success in organized sport in school.

Meanwhile her dad, who as we all remember works for a corporation owned by the richest man in town, feels threatened by the incursion of a new, chic, blonde dynamo who's become thisclose to the boss. Ferrand's not only wealthy, but evil, and Ingrid wouldn't put it past him to dump her dad in favor of this new executive woman, Julia LeCaine, who as it happens is also the new coach of her soccer team and sort of ruthless. At 99 Maple Lane everyone's got a secret (except Mom, and I bet that will be in the next book in the series) and the gorgeous scenery of Echo Falls is often ironically counterpointed to the nasty behavior of its human residents.

Grampy (Aylmer Hill) is still alive, though he's sinking, and his farm is under siege from developers led by the same Ferrand Group that his son-in-law works for. It would be a great coup for Dad in the company if he was the one who secured the land away from Grampy. Ingrid doesn't want to see that happen.

In the middle of all this, she is falling in love, not a huge passionate love but a solid friendship with Joey Strade, the solid son of the town's Police Chief. Ingrid doesn't really know how she feels about that! Peter Abrahams weaves all these threads into a fantastic thriller for kids of all ages. Ingrid's love of Conan Doyle and the Sherlock Holmes stories guides her through a world of trouble. "As Ho;mes told Watson," she reminds herself, "Never trust to general impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details." I rate this book higher than DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE and, unlike the other reviewers here who claim they knew the answer to the mystery right away, I was honestly baffled and shocked by the multiple endings. What will be next for Ingrid? "An Awfully Big Adventure"? Without a doubt.

some 13 year olds read Sherlock Holmes. Not all kids have been affected by the dumbing down of America.

Echo Falls is small town Peyton Place where everyone has a secret. Behind every door is a mystery. You need a young teen detective to get beneath the town's skin

Behind the Curtain (eight hours, six CDs. unabridged) is a masterful piece of young adult storytelling that also does not talk down to adults.This sequal to "Down the Rabbit Hole" works on so many mystery levels, especially on audio.



Ingrid is a young Nancy Drew/Veronica Mars clone who idolizes The great detective Sherlock Holmes. The book's lit reference to Sherlock, Nancy Drew and the Wizard of OZ will catch the adult ears, where it may skiped over by the young adults who listen to this piece. The myatery seems so good. This piece is character driven and moves like a Le Carre Smiley novel-piecing the puzzle slowly as any good mystery piece would


Peter Abrahams text blended with the narrative vocals of Colleen Delaney works so well. Her vocal shade is amazing. The pacing of this audio production is steady, rather than rushed..as most young adult audios are. as a Listener(as I did), You want this audio to go on and continue this story ...you become spellbound with the characters and the town.


Personal note- Peter, when is your next book? I'm Hooked!

Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD

Ingrid Levin-Hill is back. And if you thought she had troubles in DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE, just you wait! Ingrid is the very precocious, very active 13-year-old amateur detective who lives in Echo Falls. Her role model is Sherlock Holmes, and she applies his cunning logic to her cases (although the results are not always the same).

The first problem Ingrid uncovers is when she accidentally sees her father surfing the Internet for jobs. He never said anything about looking for a new job! Has something bad happened at work? And then, while helping her brother Ty do his weightlifting, she notices his muscles building up and he seems to be getting stronger. At the same time, she discovers a little brown bottle that looks like it came from Mexico. The only word she can read is something like "steroids." Steroids! Oh, no. Ty can't be taking steroids --- they're illegal! She can't report him because then her own brother would be going to jail. Is Ty really on steroids? Where is he getting them? And how can Ingrid break up an international steroid ring --- if there really is one?

Next, there's her grandfather. Someone is trying to evict him from his family farm, which has now turned into precious property within the city limits. Who is behind this, and how can Ingrid save the farm?

Meanwhile, a new assistant soccer coach appears at practice. She's cool and calculating, blonde and beautiful, and by the very strangest of circumstances just happens to be the new woman who has been hired to work in Ingrid's dad's office! Coincidence? Sherlock and Ingrid think otherwise.

And, oh yes, there's the little matter of someone kidnapping Ingrid. Who would do such a thing, and for heaven's sake, why? What's worse is that almost no one believes she was really kidnapped. Somehow, by hook and by crook, Ingrid gets this all sorted out.

Can you imagine what's going to happen when Ingrid is 14?

--- Reviewed by Robert M. Oksner (oksnerinc@attglobal.net)

Behind the Curtain : An Echo Falls Mystery by Peter Abrahams is the second book in the Echo Falls series, after last year's Down the Rabbit Hole. These are Abrahams's first children's/young adult books, after writing many adult mysteries. I really enjoyed Down the Rabbit Hole, because it was a classic sort of mystery, with clues and red herrings and all of that, with a smart, realistic 13-year-old girl as the protagonist.

Behind the Curtain picks up not long after the solution of the previous mystery, and continues many of the family-related threads left open in the first book. Ingrid finds herself investigating steroid use at the local high school, while worrying about her brother's health, the stability of her father's job, and the pressure on her grandfather to sell his farm. Ingrid's Dad is particularly cranky in this installment, as he reacts poorly to competition at work. But Grampy remains his quirky and lovable self.

Here's my problem with this book, however. I saw the solution to all of the open questions very very early into the book. It was just too easy. Now, I know that I'm not the target age range for this book, and that I've read a lot more mysteries than most 13-year-olds have. But I still have trouble believing that kids wouldn't see the end coming a long way off.

That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the book. It's well-written. Abrahams has an excellent sense for the way kids think and interact. I like the town that Ingrid lives in, and I like the way family dynamics play an important part in the story. I also like Ingrid (she's on the Cool Girls list), and after two books, I feel like I know her pretty well. She trusts her own instincts, and she doesn't let anyone push her around. I'll certainly look for the next book in the series. I just hope that Abrahams learns to trust his readers a bit more, and ratchets up the mystery a bit.

[...]

The title refers to The Wizard of Oz. Ingrid is playing Dorothy in a school production. Also, symbolically, in real life. Just reading the cover you can guess who the wicked witch is. And it doesn't take long to figure out who's the Wizard behind the curtain. I haven't read or seen Oz for a long time, and I'm not great with symbolism, so I'm not sure who the Lion, Tin Man, Scarecrow, etc. are.

Yes, it was pretty obvious who the bad guys were and what was happening "behind the curtain" early on. Didn't bother me at all.

Behind the Curtain is the second book featuring thirteen year old Ingrid. This mystery series is set in the small town of Echo Falls. Ingrid seems to be your typical middle school student who likes playing soccer, acting in plays, and eating ice cream. She is not too thrilled with school, math class in particular, but loves Sherlock Holmes. She is very good at observing small details like Holmes, her hero. It is through observing various oddities, like her dad throwing away the newspaper or her brother's increasing acne, that she begins to realize all is not well in her house.

Peter Abrahams does a good job of keeping the story moving and interesting while also interspersing it with the mundane things that a young teen must do such as homework or a trip to the orthodontist. The mysteries are convoluted enough to be intriguing, yet there are an abundance of clues so that an astute reader could figure them out. The issues Ingrid ends up investigating are pretty serious and do not necessarily have feel good happy endings. There are a few loose ends left at the end of the book: Why was Grampy at the hospital? Why was Chloe so upset? Hopefully these will be addressed in the next edition of the Echo Falls mystery series. I'm looking forward to it.

When I got the first of these for my Kindle I was half way through the book before it dawned on me that this was a Young Adult Publication - it is suspenseful but not gory. I think the family dynamics and the protagonist's relationships with her peers are handled very realistically. I'm looking forward to further installments.

My 10 year old granddaughter loves this series. She has read all the series and has enjoyed each of them. It was good to find them at Amazon.

This, the second book in the Echo Falls mystery series featuring 13-year-old Ingrid, is as good as the first. Abrahams has the ability to create 13- and 14-year-olds who are real people, not "kids." Yes, they are teens, but they have left childhood behind and haven't yet entered adulthood. Sometimes they act wise and mature, sometimes they don't. But at no time are the characters in this book "cute." They're real.

In this book, in addition to the conflict with her father wanting Grampy's farm land for commercial development (something that really bothers Ingrid, who wants the land to remain farm land), there's something going on with Ingrid's older brother (who is, she discovers, taking steroids). And there's something extra-strange going on at the company where her father works. As she tries to figure out what's going on -- Ingrid is kidnapped. This was a great twist in the story, something I wasn't expecting. Definitely recommended.