Review Detail

Reader reviewed by librariane

The neighborhood is tense and worried: Caleb Devlin is home again. Five years ago he did a
heinous crime that the adults wont talk about, so the kids imaginations run wild, and Penny starts to have panic attacks again because of all this. Penny and her brother Teddy are relatively new to the neighborhood, and Penny likes to hang with the guys. Their summer project is to build a
summer fort by the creek. But thanks to Caleb being home again, the kids are forbidden to play in the woods or go by the creek. Of course, no one listens to their parents and often sneak out to play in the woods or swim in the creek. When mysterious things start happening around the
neighborhood (e.g. pets missing), Caleb is immediately suspected. But Penny knows it could not be him, and struggles to figure out who really is causing all the mischief.

This is a suspense/horror novelI didnt want to stop until I got to the end so that I could find out whodunit. Using Pennys newness to the neighborhood was a good device to let the reader feel the action and the intrigue: we always know as much as Penny, thus feel like were part of the
crowd. Penny is a likeable enough character. Shes 13, and confused about many things that
young teenagers are confused about. Why does Amy (the 14 year old across the street) not like
her anymore? Why cant she just be one of the guys anymore? Does she really have to wear a
bra? I also enjoyed the boys around her, and her relationship with her brother. There are a
couple of murders in the book, brief references to sexual feelings (v. little) and some violence
(besides the murders). A good, quick read.