Customer Reviews

Snatched (Bloodwater Mysteries)

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

 

 

Pete Hautman has long been one of my favorite authors. I have since discovered Mary Logue and have become a fan of her exquisite Claire Watkins mysteries. Each author writes compelling fiction filled with sympathetic and sometimes off-beat characters. I was pleased to hear they had teamed up to write a new mystery series for younger readers.

As a former middle/high school teacher, I have consumed a great deal of juvenile and YA fiction. Frequently works written for a younger audience are dumbed down or "cuted up" which turns off already reluctant readers. In this case, however, Hautman and Logue write with respect for their audience and provide characters we can relate to, a fun adventure, and lots of laughs as Roni and Brian sort through clues while navigating relations with teachers and parents.

This work will certainly delight younger readers, but I also recommended it for adults. It would make an entertaining read-aloud selection for any Language Arts or Reading teacher as well as for any parent who wants to laugh and puzzle along with their child.

Bloodwater #1: Snatched provides us with a full-blooded male and female protagonist and with enough twists to satisfy the seasoned fan of the mystery genre. Despite a satisfying conclusion, this first installment leaves readers awaiting the next with anticipation.

Set in a small town in Minnesota, this mystery series features a girl detective/school newspaper reporter, Roni Delicata, who teams up with science geek Brian Bain, to solve crimes in their small town. In this book, their classmate Alicia, who lives in the fancy part of town and seems to have it all, has been beaten and then kidnapped--or so it seems. Roni can't resist sticking her nose in where it isn't wanted to solve a mystery, and manages to outsmart the police, with Brian at her side. Some violence in the story gives this mystery an edgier feel, suitable for slightly older tweens. A quick read, but with both humor and a darker side (child abuse enters into the story). Lots of action and a complicated plot will keep readers engaged with the story. There is a surprise, gender-bending twist in the story when the abuser turns out to be the mother rather than the stepfather, as we first think. This book is the first in a series featuring Brian and Roni. One nice aspect of this particular series is that, with a strong girl and boy character, it should appeal equally to both sexes. Pete Hautman has won a National Book award, among other honors, for his young adult novels; he is equally skilled at the mystery genre.

Roni, a nosy school reporter, and Brian, a guy that has a particular interest in science, get tied up in the mystery of finding Alicia Camden. They both got suspended from school, so they both have to break the rules to figure out this case. Alicia mysteriously gets snatched, and when she gets found, she won't tell anyone about what happened. Roni and Brian dig hard to investigate, and have a large group of suspects, while Alicia continually gets found and kidnapped again and again, with a surprising ending.

Snatched is a somewhat suspenseful, interesting book that has a good plot line, with a disappointing ending. Throughout the story, the suspense builds as Alicia keeps giving subtle clues, and Brian and Roni try with huge effort to crack the case. Towards the end of the book, you find out where Alicia might be, which builds suspense even more. The ending was unexpected, which I liked, but nothing changed and nothing interesting happened. It also didn't have a great action scene, but overall it was a pretty good book. I would rate this book three out of five stars because it was well written and had an interesting plot, but an ending that was unsatisfying. What I learned from this book that everything isn't always about you because first, Alicia did something that caused a lot of people in the community stress, and second, Brian and Roni were disappointed that they weren't displayed as heros in the end and were upset about that, but it doesn't matter though because everyone is still alright, including Roni and Brian.

I'm sure the book is great, but my son had to pick another mystery to read, because it took 2 weeks to receive this book. Will check ship times more closely next time.

EDIT: I found this in the YA section of my library and as such I'm reviewing it as if it was a YA book since I thought it was when I read it.

This book could have been better than it was.

It had so much potential but it was almost as if the authors where afraid of getting too series. For example, when Alicia gets kidnapped Brain asks people why anyone would do that. His mother tells him for love, revenge, and money are the usual motivations, as well as parents kidnapping their children. All are true, but no one mentions or even hints at the other possibility, rape and murder.

This would not bother me if not for the fact this is considered a young adult book, and this is one example of many where the authors tip their toes into serious situations without really developing or creating real emotions beyond the obvious oh of course they'll feel that emotions. This lift the characters and the story a bit two dimensional for me.

I liked how the beginning was set up where Alicia was hurt and a man was standing over her, and then as the story develops it becomes obvious there's more to the story, but its never really developed beyond the 2-d. Things just happen and everything conveniently comes together. It didn't even feel like I was reading a mystery most of the time. All in all it could have been better but it wasn't.

My grandmother just bought me this book two days ago and already im done with it. I missed most of my favorite t.v shows because I lost track of time reading this great book.

The characters make the story more realistic but if you want to find out about it you should buy the book. But I really didnt suspect that weird twisted ending I suspected more of a thriller. It was more like a confession!!

D.A

Alicia has been kidnapped. Can Brian and Roni find her kidnapper and save the day? That's the plot in a nutshell, but the complete mystery would fill a large, very complicated nutshell.

Brian and Roni go to the same high school, but the only things they seem to have in common are frequent visits to the principal's office. Brian's a science nerd, and Roni is an ambitious reporter for the school paper. Alicia is a fellow high school student who has disappeared. This first in a series dubbed THE BLOODWATER MYSTERIES has Brian and Roni teaming up to solve the crime.

For mystery fans this book has it all. There is the big old family house connected to a possible curse. Part of the adventure takes the crime-solving duo to Wolf Spider Island to deal with colorful characters like Driftwood Doug and a butterfly collector named Mr. Nestor. Add in a wacky police department, suspicious high school thugs who key cars, and a trip to Nun's Island to search for a missing boat, and you have just a few of the adventures in this fast-paced book.

Pete Hautman, author of Godless and Mr. Was, combines talents with fellow Minnesota author Mary Logue, to create this new series. Fans of complicated whodunit tales will not be disappointed.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"