The Body in the Woods

April 21, 2014
Three Oregon high school students help the local police by volunteering with Portland Search and Rescue in this fast-paced kickoff to Henry’s Point Last Seen series. Alexis is sweet and suffering (her mentally ill mother requires lots of care). Ruby is smart, socially awkward, and obsessed with true crime. Nick has a hero complex; he wants to impress girls with his police work. While searching for an autistic man in the woods, they find the body of girl their age. Ruby is sure it’s the work of a serial killer, and she enlists Alexis and Nick to help find the culprit. Henry (The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die) is well within her wheelhouse with this tense mystery, which can read a bit like a throwback to “teen detective” novels from decades past. The author’s expertise at plotting a murder mystery and knowledge of police procedure are evident as the novel moves through all the expected moments of a TV crime drama, building to a violent confrontation. Ages 12–up. Agent: Wendy Schmalz, Wendy Schmalz Agency.

May 15, 2014
In a fast-moving and well-constructed mystery, three teen volunteer members of a search-and-rescue team track a serial killer targeting homeless teen girls in Portland, Oregon.An experienced SAR member is supposed to accompany every search party, but an error lands new volunteers Ruby, Nick and Alexis alone together on their first call. Other team members quickly locate the man who is the target of their search, but the three teens find something else: the body of a recently dead girl. Each teen comes from a unique and compellingly drawn background, expressed with impressive effectiveness given how quickly the plot moves. Nick, whose father died in the Iraq War, has joined SAR in hopes of both living up to his father's legacy and impressing girls. Timid but capable Alexis pushes others away to stop them from discovering that she spends most of her time and energy managing her mother's mental illness. Ruby in particular stands out. Her socially unacceptable but genuinely felt exuberance at participating in a murder investigation is frowned upon by parents and police but lovingly conveyed through enthusiastic dialogue and narrative asides. Short, obsessive chapters from the unidentified killer's point of view add to the suspense, and enough clues are dropped as to the killer's identity that astute readers will be able to solve the puzzle before the final, high-stakes climax.A quick, thrilling read that doesn't skimp on characterization. (Mystery. 12-18)

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June 1, 2014

Gr 8 Up-On their first mission for the Portland County Search and Rescue team, Alexis, Nick, and Ruby don't find the missing man with autism they were looking for; instead they find the dead body of a young girl. Now these three teens from very different backgrounds must work together to find the killer. Complicating the issue is Alexis's mentally ill mother, who disappears after a paranoid episode, Nick's crushing feelings of inadequacy, and Ruby's struggles to find a place she belongs. Will they be able to find common ground with one another before the killer strikes again, maybe even at one of their own? Henry realistically portrays these three kids thrust into a real-life horror. Their doubts and fears, as well as their strengths, all ring true and teens will be able to identify with one of the protagonists. The adult characters, especially Alexis's mother, are also fully developed, albeit a bit slow on the uptake in the case of Ruby's parents. The actual mystery is not that intriguing, but a pervading sense of threat and danger is present throughout. Give this series opener to fans of character-driven mysteries.-Erik Knapp, Davis Library, Plano, TX

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014
Alex, Nick, and Ruby, teens from widely different walks of life, are the newest additions to Portland County's Search and Rescue volunteers. They set out to find an autistic man who has been lost in the woods, but instead they find a murdered girl. A fresh, vivid setting and believably flawed characters are highlights of this accessible mystery, the first in a planned series.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)