Peter Abrahams (2) (1947–)

Thirteen year-old Ingrid lives in the town of Echo Falls, Conn., plays soccer in a league, performers with the local theater company, forgets to wear her orthodontist appliance most nights and admires Sherlock Holmes most of all. An attempt at independence finds her lost in the bad part of town, where she's found by the local drunken crazy known as "Cracked-up Katie", who insists on helping Ingrid. As appalled as Ingrid is to have actually talked to the woman and been in her filthy house show more waiting for a cab, she feels even worse to see in the paper the next morning that Katie was murdered some time after Ingrid left her house, making Ingrid, and the killer, the last people to see Katie alive. And even worse, Ingrid may have some evidence of her visit behind, which might make her a murder suspect, and if the police notice it, will also get her in trouble with her mom. Adding to her problem is that the police chief's son has a crush on Ingrid, so she finds herself seeing more and more of the chief, and she having creative differences in her part as Alice in the theater's production of "Alice in Wonderland".

At just over 400 pages, there's a lot going on here, especially for a YA, but this was so well-done that I'd breeze through 50 pages without noticing. I'll continue with the Echo Falls Mysteries (this is the first) because, even though the killer was easy to spot, the story is fun and Ingrid's an interesting girl. show less

Rating: 3* of five

The Book Description: “Mackie dreaded the mail.” From this simple beginning, Peter Abrahams opens the curtains on a mesmerizing world down on the Mexican border, a world of complex and passionate people whose ambitions will lead them on a relentless collision course, a desert world that rises to the mythic in Their Wildest Dreams. The suspense will grab you and not let go, the surprises will shock you, but in the end it will be the wonderful characters who linger in show more your mind.

Characters like Mackie Larkin, a suburban mother desperate for money, who finds she can earn it as a stripper; Kevin Larkin, her ex-husband whose get-rich-quick schemes left her with a mountain of debt, and who now dreams up an even better one; Lianne, their beautiful, impulsive teenage daughter, for whom almost anything, even bank robbery, is possible; Jimmy Marz, the wrangler she loves, who gets a dangerous onetime offer that could take him to the life he’s always wanted; Buck Samsonov, the charismatic strip-club owner building a southwestern empire in the lawless style of a 19th-century robber baron; Clay Krupsha, a twenty-first-century captain of detectives in a border town where no crime is what it seems; and Nicholas Loeb, a struggling mystery writer whose encounter with an unstable muse entangles him in a web of true crime more mysterious than anything he imagined.

Utterly original, multilayered, and marked by the gripping suspense, sharp wit, and fascinating psychological insights for which Peter Abrahams has been acclaimed, here is a major work—a riveting story of modern-day desperadoes living their wildest dreams.

My Review: At the apex of the Mouldering Mound of ~Meh~ one finds thrillers with silly sex and sad women who don't quite have it. And here we are.

Plots revolving around trusting women getting taken by smooth-talking con men, whether husbands, boyfriends, or strangers on a train, annoy me. And here we are.

Teenaged girls who fall for older bad boys, lose their virginity to them, and lose big, tick me off. And here we are.

Why go on, if the picture's not clear yet it won't get clearer. These are well-worn paths in thrillerdom and there is not one bit of this book that's “utterly original.” It's multi-layered, I suppose. It's competently written, I suppose. It's fast enough paced, I suppose.

And I do not give the hairs on the ass of a rat. It's fine, yes sure, fine fine, nothing to complain about except how completely forgettable it all is, and in an hour I won't remember if Lianne was the mom or the daughter, or Nick was the writer or the daddy. In a month, I won't remember the title, and by next birthday, you can show me this review and my only question will be: “Did I read that? I didn't read that.”

But I'll say it in my best Bette Midler voice, so you'll get the joke. show less

In Peter Abrahams' YA novel, Reality Check, Cody is a high school student, close to failing in most courses but reigning supreme on the football field as a talented quarterback and happily in love with the smartest, prettiest girl in their Colorado school. Okay, she's also by far the richest, and when she brings home a B+ in one class, her father decides to send her away, first to stay in Hong Kong with his brother and then to a boarding school in Vermont. Cody, being the noble type, show more deliberately breaks up with her just before she leaves for Vermont, so that she will have a chance at finding happiness with someone closer to her own class; but when a few months later she disappears from the boarding school, he immediately heads out to Vermont to try to find her. It's not as if he's leaving much behind - he managed to tear his ACL in a game and might never play football again, certainly he's blown his chances of making a name for himself in his junior year, and he's dropped out of school too. But once he arrives in Vermont, he finds the people there are all mysteries to him, and the cold dark woods hide more than a few secrets.... A fun read. Peter Abrahams knows how to create a fast-paced YA adventure, where bad things happen but the good guys triumph in the end. Not my favourite by him, as I prefer his Echo Falls series, but an entertaining, if slight, read. show less

An avid reader of Sherlock Holmes, Ingrid Levin-Hill, 13, is also a fleet-footed soccer player with a knack for stage acting–skills that come in handy when she finds herself caught in a police investigation following the murder of an eccentric woman. The deceased was associated with the Prescott Players, a local theater troupe in which Ingrid lands the title role in a production of Alice in Wonderland. Plot scenes incorporate play rehearsals, family life, middle school, and soccer games show more along with plenty of intriguing twists and mounting tension. Taking courage from her crusty grandfather, who refuses to sell his farm to an affluent developer, Ingrid acts with aplomb as she secretly undertakes a series of suspenseful adventures to track down the killer. She also maintains the cool-headedness to enjoy the friendship of the police chief's son, Joey Strade, while keeping the officers who'd like to question her at bay. Ingrid's poise, however, is tempered by her self-doubt and troubled dreams, making her a believable human. She and the other main characters are all solidly drawn, including the newest member of her family, a droopy-eyed dog named Nigel. An engaging book that manages to keep the pace moving forward without feeling rushed. show less