Behind the Curtain

Behind the Curtain by Peter Abrahams (Laura Geringer Books, 2006.)

These Echo Falls mysteries are my Twilight Saga. My Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. My Harry Potter. When does the next one come out? When? When?

Granted this is the second of three. But I already read number three. Unlike Twilight, you really don't need to read these in order.

Ingrid suspects that her brother Ty is doing steroids to get strong for football. Through her sleuthing, she links the drug ring to her friend Stacy Rubino's rotten older brother Sean and the Kraken family, who are also rotten.

Meanwhile, her dad seems to have been replaced at work by Julia LeCaine. Julia becomes Ingrid's assistant soccer coach, and soon shows her colors as a bit of a psycho. Ingrid's dad is in hot water because Ingrid's grandfather refuses to sell his property to the Ferrand Group, which employs Ingrid's dad. As always Ingrid's math teacher is giving her a hard time.

When Ingrid is preparing to leave for a math fest that she's been forced into, she gets kidnapped. She escapes, but the problem is: nobody believes her! After all there was no ransom note, and Ingrid has no enemies. Or does she?

Ingrid assumes the kidnapping is related to steroids. The drug ring leaders must have sensed that she was onto them. Rather than telling her boyfriend Joey's father--town detective Officer Strade, lest her brother get popped, she investigates on her own.

The steroid case gets wrapped up in an exciting chase scene...then comes a surprise ending.

The verdict: Love this series. The plot strands are beautifully woven together, and it presents a realistic portrait of a junior high girl in Ingrid's situation (which is an upper-middle class family whose members are under a lot of pressure to achieve, achieve, achieve.) When will the next book come out? When? When? When?