Review Detail

Reader reviewed by P.G. Sherrie

Ellen Raskin calls this book a "puzzle-mystery," and she is exactly right. This book captured my twelve-year-old imagination and has kept it for ten more years.  Filled with a variety of unforgettable characters who appear not as charicatures but real people, Raskin writes a book which is potent for all readers, not merely the adolescent.  Winner of the Newberry Medal, The Westing Game propels readers through a murder, a mansion on a hill, a will which is not a will but a game, and characters rich, poor, neglected, immigrated, and deceiving.  This book surpasses all detective and mystery books, because it is not merely a mystery story - it is a masterpiece of integrated plot and real-life characters that address issues such as racism and disfunctional family relationships.