January 1, 2003
Spending the summer unwillingly on the ranch in Texas where her elderly great-aunt and -uncle live, Julie begins to investigate a series of thefts and mysterious deaths there. The book offers an Internet-savvy protagonist and a fair share of red herrings, but readers may be disappointed that the scene of entrapment promised in the title falls flat.
(Copyright 2003 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
September 15, 2002
Gr. 6-8. Sixteen-year-old Julie has a great summer plan--she will help her swim team go the interstate finals. Her family, however, has other plans for her. Julie's great-uncle Gabe recently took a nasty spill and broke his ankle. Believing Julie's plans are expendable, her family sends her to stay with Gabe at Rancho del Oro in Texas. Once there she stumbles on a mystery: Gabe isn't the only one to have taken a fall, and there have been some unexplained deaths and lots of missing jewelry in the small affluent community. Uncle Gabe believes his accident was planned, and Julie and her e-mail friend Robin are the only ones who believe him. Class stereotypes are very obvious here (white-collar individuals are thoughtless, whiny, and controlling; blue-collar folks are promiscuous, lazy, greedy, and resentful), but the mystery is suspenseful and well crafted, and Nixon even works in a bit of helpful information about computers and e-mails.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)
September 1, 2002
Gr 5-8-Julie Hollister, 16, had better plans for her summer vacation than to spend it on the Rancho del Oro in Texas taking care of her great-aunt and injured great-uncle. However, the experience turns out to be anything but boring. At their first meeting, Uncle Gabe insists that his fall down the stairs was not an accident, and that he was tripped. As Julie begins investigating his theory, there are two deaths and some missing jewelry. Communicating with her mystery-reading friend via e-mail, the teen starts adding up the clues, but the killer is also on her trail in hopes of silencing her before she discovers the truth. With its twists and turns, this page-turner is a must for mystery fans and engaging enough for reluctant readers.-Kim Carlson, Monticello High School, IA
Copyright 2002 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.