Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Sudden Moves: A Young Adult Mystery (Kindle Edition) One of the best YA mystery books I have read in a long time. Filled with suspense and intrigue. I downloaded the sample, while waiting for the actual book to arrive. Big mistake - I got so caught up in the story I purchased the full Kindle version immediately and read the story it in one sitting.
Kelli Sue Landon does a superb job in providing a YA mystery page-turner. You are expertly immersed in the daily trials of Michelle, a young teen whose new friend, Katie, has disappeared. She finds it strange and disconcerting that no one at school or at home seems to even care - or even believes her that Katie's Florida vacation is now being explained that she moved there. She, best friend Tami and schoolmate Brad know there is something wrong and go out to discover what happened to Katie?
What was refreshing was Landon wrote the main characters as average teenagers - reacting rashly and even "stupidly". The emotional turmoil of the teenage years is brought forth on so many levels - rumors, gossip, fights, jealously, lost loves, even high-school mean girls, are woven and intertwined throughout the story. No supernatural insights, or easy solutions. At first, Michelle seems more concerned about the book she loaned the missing girl than what actually happened to her. The fact that the trio didn't intentionally set out to solve the mystery is refreshing.
Landon does an excellent job keeping you hooked, and the suspense doesn't abate. Excellent piece of YA work, well worth reading and highly recommended.
"Sudden Moves" is the first novel for Kelli Sue Landon. I will definitely be purchasing more of this authors' work in the future.
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Young Adult Read, January 23, 2011
By
Just a Happy Housewife (East Peoria, IL) - See all my reviews This review is from: Sudden Moves: A Young Adult Mystery (Paperback) I received a free copy of this for review.
I was first impressed with the dialogue, which was very accurate compared to most Young Adult books. The characters are teenagers and speak like teenagers. Very realistic, which I appreciated.
I love a good mystery and I did not see the ending of this one coming, another great aspect of the book.
Even better, I love that the author didn't try to make the teenagers seem smarter than the adults, have all the answers, or point out the solution of the mystery to the adults. So many young adult books have this approach which really bothers me. I'm not saying teenagers aren't intelligent, but, come on. They just aren't realistically represented in most YA books, especially mysteries. This is not the case with this book.
An easy read that I didn't want to put down. I look forward to this author's next book.
Rex Robot Reviews - Andrew My Review:
Katie Brashers went on a trip to Florida with her family to celebrate Spring Break. When school resumes, Michelle Martin notices that Katie hasn’t returned to class. Michelle worries and she starts asking questions about where Katie is and why she isn’t back in school. Katie has a boyfriend named Brad Wilkes and he doesn’t even know why Katie didn’t return from her trip. Michelle begins thinking something terrible might have happened to Katie. Michelle also let Katie borrow her grandmother’s book and she hasn’t returned it yet. It is not like Katie to not tell anyone where she is or at least call them. No one can seem to answer or explain why Katie hasn’t returned... Michelle starts digging around and trying to find out information about where and why Katie hasn’t returned. Tami, Michelle’s best friend, and Brad start on a journey to help Michelle try and uncover the mystery that surrounds Katie.
This novel was suspenseful and it kept me on the edge of my seat. Sudden Moves is a great young adult mystery novel but I would recommend it to everyone. I was trying to uncover the mystery the entire time I was reading about where Katie might be located. And I never saw the ending coming and couldn’t even predict what was going to happen next. I am giving Sudden Moves 5 robots! I immensely enjoyed reading this mystery novel.
If you love a wonderful mystery, action packed novel and want to test your detective skills then this is the book you need to try and solve. Help find Katie! I can’t wait to read more books by this author.