Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams
Down the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery
by Peter Abrahams
(Audio)
I earread this book because it was on the special FCPS shelves at my local library, recommended to kids. It was a fun, light read, even though there were some pretty dark and tense moments!
Ingrid is a young girl who dreams of being an actress. But things start getting real for her when she leaves her soccer cleats at what later becomes a muder scene! Following in the footsteps of her favorite detective, Sherlock Holmes, she tries to figure out who killed Cracked-up Katie and tries to get away with a whole hoast of crimes--breaking & entering in order to steal her shoes from the crime scene, skipping school to ask questions she has no business asking, lying to the chief of police, sneaking out of her house in the middle of the night, and withholding soooooo much evidence it's not even funny. As an adult, I had a really hard time with this aspect. Yes, it's a kids book and it's up to Ingrid to solve this mystery. But it's one thing to sneak out of the house or skip school and it's quite another to break into a closed crime scene and run from cops chasing her. And all the lying to cops crossed some lines for me.
In a side plot, Ingrid gets cast as Alice in the local production of Alice in Wonderland. I love Alice stories, so that was one of the reasons I chose this off the bookshelves at the library. I liked all the different interpretations of various lines the production came up with. And I like how this aspect of her live ended up winding itself into the murder mystery as well.
I sort of guessed the killer. Actually, my guess was a little off. I was bested by this children's book! Good job, Peter Abrahams! But I definitely got it close.
I liked the drama and the mystery. And I liked Ingrid from the start. As an adult, this wasn't a life-changer. But it was definitely a fun book!