This was recommended to me as a nice middle grade mystery. That recommendation is the reason I bought it, as I’ve been wanting to read more middle grade mysteries. Yet, I don’t think mystery is at the heart of this story – and that is not a bad thing.
This is a book about losses. About recovering from losing what you loved the most. Most importantly, this is a book about letting go of the past to be able to see the happiness waiting for us in the future.
Melanie Conklin treats her characters with compassion, the compassion every child needs when facing an everyday filled with uncertainty and grief.
Maddy lost something very important. Since that happened, everything she sees in the world is danger. Maddy’s mother has tried to help her trust again. She has offered routines and exercises to help Maddy move through life with ease. But the hurt inside Maddy is not healing, and the pain forces her to stay vigilant, reminding her that any given day, life may take everything you cared for away.
It’s not until a boy disappears, his photo plastered on every newspaper and the news on TV, that Maddy finds a new purpose in life: to find him.
Easier said than done, particularly when her neighborhood nemesis has declared the old cemetery his and his gang’s own private play ground and rumor has it, it’s there where others had seen a mysterious boy who just about fits the description of the lost one from the papers.
A character driven story with heart and a little bit of action. Too naive in parts, perhaps reflecting children younger than the actual characters are meant to be, it still manages to be interesting and a joy to read.
Francisca Staines 