Customer Reviews

Reality Check (Laura Geringer Books)

5 star:		(3)
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Peter Abrahams established his reputation as a skillful writer of mystery novels for adults, gaining popularity and critical acclaim for his realistic, multifaceted mysteries that often feature unusual characters. A few years back, he widened his scope by starting the award-winning series of Echo Falls mysteries for younger readers, starring a 13-year-old soccer-playing aspiring actress and amateur sleuth. Now, he bridges the gap between his dedicated audiences with REALITY CHECK, a young adult mystery that combines the intensity of football, the struggles of growing up and the fear of losing a loved one.

Cody Laredo is finishing his sophomore year of high school on top of the world. He has passed all his classes, which means he'll be able to QB the varsity football team in the fall. And he's looking forward to a long, lazy summer, working at his dad's landscaping business and spending all his spare time with his girlfriend, Clea Weston, the smartest, most beautiful girl in school. When Clea's wealthy father abruptly whisks her away to the other side of the world for the summer, however, Cody starts to rethink his luck. Things go from bad to worse when Clea unwillingly transfers to an elite private school in Vermont for her junior year --- worlds away from Cody's working-class background. And when Cody suffers a torn ACL following a hard hit in a fall football game, he feels like the whole world has been yanked out from under his feet.

Cody had been counting on his football talent --- it was his ticket to a Division I football scholarship, to a future away from his small Colorado town, to a life with Clea. But when he's no longer Cody the quarterback, who is Cody, exactly? All his life he's been told he has football smarts, not book smarts, a comment that seems to become a self-fulfilling prophecy when the combination of popping pain pills, missing Clea and generally giving up on himself prompts Cody to drop out of school and take a dead-end job.

Cody has just about given up on life when he suddenly finds a new mission. Clea has abruptly disappeared from her Vermont boarding school. The police seem to be flummoxed, and Cody holds a key clue --- a letter she wrote to him the day she disappeared. Cody sets off on a road trip to a world of privilege, wealth and secrets, a world he doesn't understand but soon finds himself investigating. He doesn't know who, if anyone, he can trust --- but he has to learn to trust himself again if he's going to have any chance of finding Clea.

REALITY CHECK is a tight, smart mystery, one with plenty of twists and unexpected turns that will keep readers turning the pages. Just as compelling as the mystery plot, however, is the story of Cody's journey to find himself, to discover his talents, to believe that he has worth somewhere other than on the football field. Abrahams also cleverly ties in plot points that could have been ripped from recent headlines, giving the mystery added currency and urgency. If the novel has a fault, it's that the story's conclusion feels slightly rushed, a little abrupt, so readers will probably be clamoring for more stories starring Cody and featuring the seemingly star-crossed lovers from different sides of the tracks.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

Life is good for Cody Laredo. He's just finished his sophomore year of high school - his first as the starting varsity quarterback - and he eked out passing grades in all of his classes, so he'll be academically eligible to play next season. And next season is the key, as far as getting recruited by a D-1 college football program is concerned. For the summer, Cody's lined up a good job, one that pays better than minimum wage. Best of all, of course, is Clea - his smart, funny, beautiful girlfriend.

So there's Cody on the top of the world and then suddenly, he's not. Angry because she received her first `B' on a report card ever, Clea's father sends her to Hong Kong for the summer and then off to boarding school in the fall, leaving Cody alone and feeling as if he's been gut-punched. Then, at the very beginning of the football season, Cody takes a late hit and suffers a torn ACL. End of season, maybe end of football career, definitely end of chances for a good scholarship.

Now Cody's life seems fairly pointless. All of the things that used to matter most are gone. Just when he's feeling his lowest, Cody sees a newspaper headline that jolts him out of his lethargy. Clea, his ex-girlfriend, has gone missing from her boarding school in Vermont. Driven by an impulse he can't explain, Cody gets in his car and drives from Colorado to Vermont. He's determined to find Clea, or at the very least, get to the bottom of her disappearance.

Sixteen yr old Cody has hit hard times. His girlfriend is sent away to a private school, he gets injured during a game and can't play football, his grades are a mess, and he's in trouble at work.

When he think things can't get worse, his girlfriend turns up missing from her school; it's all over the news, and the authorities aren't finding any leads. Cody decides to go look for her himself, and discovers that things are not always as they appear.

If you are looking for a well-written page turner, Peter Abrahams delivers with 'Reality Check' - it's a twisty, exciting read!

Sometimes reality is too hard to handle. When your girlfriend is leaving, you have a knee injury school falls in last. Grades start to drop when nobody is on your back about them. When your knee injury is your first priority, what would happen if you girlfriend is kidnapped? Will she become your first priority? Reality Check by Peter Abrahams is an exciting love story with to high school kids.
Cody Laredo has passing grades in all his classes, going out with the smartest and prettiest girl in the school. Cody has it going for him with a high paying summer job. That is until his girlfriend, Clea is sent off to boarding school and Cody gets a torn ACL, so he can't play football for the rest of the year. Cody's grades start to drop and he just gives up, dropping out of school and stays home or goes to his job, walking down the street Cody notices a heading on the news paper "Local Girl goes Missing." Clea who is now Cody's ex- girlfriend went missing from her boarding school in Vermont and the only clue that he has is the letter she sent him the day she went missing. Cody sets out on an adventure he would have never saw coming, and soon figures out that football is not the only thing he is good at.
Reality check is a teenage to early twenties kind of book. Reality Check has some strong language and a bit of violence, but this does not go away during the story. Reality Check has a mystery, love story, and violence all rolled up into one suspenseful book that's a great read.
Reality Check is difficult to make connections to because it is different then most books. I have never read a book that has a love story in the beginning and a mystery/kidnapping at the end, nor have I watched a movie like it.
Since Reality Check is so different then most it keeps you reading more. The love story keeping you relaxed, smiling and even laughing, makes you feel good inside. However, when the mystery begins, in about the middle of the story, it keeps you on the edge of your seat, waiting to see what happens, wanting to know wheat happens next in the book. I'm not a big reader myself but when I started to read this book I couldn't put it down! Reality Check not only has one climax but many throughout the book.
Reality Check is amazing, very exciting, and never boring! I say even if you don't like reading try this book I guarantee you will like it.

I teach high school Intensive Reading for 10th graders. I read this book because one of my students wanted to talk about it. We read it and had book chats once a week. It is very appropriate for teenagers and it contains enough suspense to hold their attention.

"Cody extended his hand, patted Bud's face. He looked into Bud's big brown eyes, thinking: You know. Whatever happened, you know."

Varsity quarterback Cody Laredo has a difficult time scholastically. He has some real disadvantages, being that his mom died some years ago, and he shares a small, grungy apartment with his hard-drinking, uneducated, unloving father. Fortunately, Cody has a great thing going with Clea, the smartest, richest, hottest, horseback-ridingest girl at County High, in Little Bend, Colorado, just east of the Rockies.

But when, at the end of their sophomore year, Cody is joyful about the D- in English -- it is, after all, good enough for him to be able to play football in the fall -- Clea is totally freaked over her B in calculus. She knows that she'll pay a heavy price for anything less than an A. And she does.

While Cody spends the summer helping make deliveries for the local lumber yard, Clea's powerful businessman father ships her off to her uncle's home in Hong Kong, and then enrolls her in a Vermont boarding school for the fall. Cody tries to do what he thinks is the right thing by ending his relationship with Clea. Then, at the very end of the first football game of the season, a moment after Cody has pulled out a one-point come-from-behind win, a very dirty and very late hit on his knee results in a devastating, season-ending ACL injury that requires surgery, pain pills, and rehabilitation.

With no girlfriend, no support, and no football, Cody quickly falls behind and then completely gives up on school. Even a return to work for the lumber yard quickly sours...and then Cody sees a story on the front page of the newspaper that Clea has disappeared in the woods near her boarding school. Her horse, Bud, returned to the campus barn without her.

After a sleepless night, and a terrible day of work, Cody comes home to find a somewhat cryptic letter from Clea that was mailed the same day she disappeared. Packing a snack and some clothes, withdrawing what he can from the ATM, Cody aims his truck toward Vermont.

There are so many teens who love great thriller/mystery stories -- or would if they were lucky enough to find one. Peter Abrahams has crafted a first-rate page-turning thriller and mystery for young adults. Danger, disappearance, and star-crossed lovers make REALITY CHECK a perfect summer read.

Cody and Clea are opposites. She's smart and rich. He isn't. He decides that he is holding her back from everything she could be, so he breaks it off with her. But he still loves her. Clea's dad never liked Cody and has decided to send her away to boarding school to finish her high school education. Clea moves across the country to Vermont to attend Dover. Then she disappears. It's in all the papers. And Cody knows that something must be going on so he packs up and heads to Vermont. Hoping that he's not too late.

May I just say I loved this book. I fell in love with Cody myself. His self-deprecating manner, his determination and persistence. It was hard to tell who was on his side and who was against him.

"It's hard to know who to trust sometimes." (91)

This theme runs throughout the book and just when you think you've figured out the good guys, Abrahams gives you a little more rope. I thought the story moved quickly and kept me involved and guessing.

"Meaning, you think whoever we're looking for is close by?" (242)

Abrahams did a great job of giving Cody a voice. I knew what he sounded like and his going to Vermont made sense with the way the story had been setup.

Cody's life is pretty good--he's the quarterback of his school's
(rather good) football team and has college scouts checking him out,
he's just passing all of his classes, and he has the hottest
girlfriend, Clea, who is really into him. But then things start to go
south pretty fast--Clea is sent to a prep school out east to better
prepare her for Ivy League colleges, and their relationship is over.
Then Cody tears his ACL, leaving him on the bench for the rest of the
season--and maybe even the rest of his career.

Without football as motivation to do well, Cody's barely acceptable
grades plummet, and disheartened, he drops out of school. Then comes
the worst news of all: Clea has gone missing. Driven by guilt and fear
for her safety, Cody heads to her Vermont prep school, desperate to
join the search to find her. Without telling anyone who he is, he
begins to poke around, looking for clues as to Clea's whereabouts, and
doesn't like what he finds. Each dark secret brings him closer to what
has happened to Clea, but also closer to danger.

Peter Abraham's Reality Check is a fast-paced and smart mystery that
will really hook readers and completely draw them into Cody's world.
Cody isn't your average hero, but he is relatable and real, and his
emotions, motives, and uncertainties make him a likable character and
Reality Check an easy book to get into. The mystery is well thought
out and convincing, making it hard to guess the outcome until the very
end. Though the ending is a bit abrupt, Reality Check is a riveting
and suspenseful read and readers will be happy to follow along with Cody as he regains his self confidence and learns a few things about
himself.

While the storyline seems to be aimed at a young adult audience and deals with almost-adult themes (the characters are 17 and in intimate relationships), the writing seems to be aimed a fair bit younger. The narrative is from Cody's point of view, and is mostly short, declarative sentences.

That Cody is a fairly unworldly, unsophisticated kid further serves to make reading his point of view tedious. Cody's near-total lack of knowledge about anything beyond high school football (doesn't he even watch television?) is hard to empathise with, even though I suppose it's fairly realistic for a small-town high school dropout. Another point of view (Clea, a cop, a classmate, a parent) would have helped break up the slog through Cody's not-very-bright thought processess. As it is, reading about Cody's "investigation" ("clueless bumbling" is more like it) of his girlfriend's disappearance is frustrating.

Reality Check is about a teenager named Cody who was the top quarterback at his school and was sure to go to college and his girlfriend, Clea, who was the smartest and prettiest girl in school. There relationship was seemingly perfect until Cody severely injures his knee and Clea is sent to Beijing for the summer taking a huge toll on the once perfect couple. Soon after Clea is home and Cody injures his knee the two split and Clea is sent to one of the top private schools in the country where she is expected to keep her grades and focus. Cody is distraught and soon embarks on a life without meaning where he basically drinks, sleeps, and parties his way through the days of Clea's absence. But after a few months of Clea's leaving he receives an odd letter from Clea telling him how much she misses him and how she wants to see him. Then shortly after receiving the letter he hears the news of her mysterious disappearance. Cody who is still very much in love with her runs off to her private school in Vermont where he is determined to discover the disappearance of his one and only true love. Once in Vermont Cody discovers the mystery of Clea's disappearance all of which has to do with deception, greed, and blackmail. Will Cody find Clea before it is to late or will he have to live his life in misery over the loss of his love? This thriller is not as good and exciting as the plot leads you to believe, confusing and with a somewhat implausible plot it is a little lackluster on the action. As well as a lackluster plot the characters are not examined very well and Clea and Cody's relationship is not looked at deep enough. Definitely not worth buying, I suggest that if you are dieing to read this book wait until it is available at your local library.

Grade: C