Customer Reviews

The Stolen Relic (Nancy Drew: All New Girl Detective #7)

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It's hard to review a book that only took me approximately twenty minutes to read. I'm giving it two stars because, although it wasn't bad, I'll probably have forgotten everything about it in a few days. It's a quick, hurried, throwaway read. There's nothing wrong with that of course...I'm just not entirely sure why I'm reviewing it! Ah well, here goes...

The "Nancy Drew: Girl Detective" series takes the Nancy Drew formula and reshapes it into a new style that is notable for two things. The first is that it's clearly aimed at a much younger audience than both the original series and the "Nancy Drew Files" of the 1980s. The second is that it's told in first-person narrative by Nancy herself.

In a nutshell: Nancy, George, Bess and Ned head out to Moab, Utah for an outdoorsy break and find a mystery when a young woman goes missing whilst on a hike. There are the usual suspects: a squabbling mother and daughter, a gruff Native American antiques dealer, a surly ex-boyfriend, etc. The team investigates, face a number of other (somewhat pointless) obstacles on the way: a flash-flood, an avalanche, a punctured raft and quick-sand. It's not a particularly compelling mystery, particularly with the awkward wrap-up (the villain does the usual monologue in which the entire crime is explained, though it takes place in rather strange circumstances).

However, something must be said for the research that Carolyn Keene's ghost-writer manages to pack into this book. There is plenty to be learnt about Utah's geography, Native American culture, and the desert survival techniques. I knew more than when I started about this particular area, so kudos for that.