Blood Will Tell

 

By April Henry 

     This is the second book in a series by April Henry.  Yet again we follow our three young Search and Rescue trainees as the venture towards certification.  This time they begin by searching and finding a young missing child followed the next day with an evidence search on a murdered young woman from Nick's neighborhood.  

     Unfortunately, Nick becomes the main suspect when his Familial DNA is discovered on the body.  That leaves the three young friends no other alternative to embroil themselves in another murder investigation.  Alexis and Ruby know Nick could never kill somebody, he vomits when he sees blood and they know something does not jive.  Nick's life is further up ended when he discovers that the father he idolized as a fallen war hero, is a murderer sitting in prison.  The noose of evidence further cinches as the DNA match is affirmed and the police converge on Nick's home to take him into custody, but NIck escapes out a window.  

     Who else to help Nick but Alexis and Ruby, in the mean time the murderer is convinced he has to kill again and frame Nick even more.  His victim of choice is one of the three musketeers.  Do the cops figure it our on time?  Do Nick, Alexis and Ruby live  through another murder investigation?  

     This is a murder mystery novel and definitely not appropriate for younger students seventh grade and up is the ideal ages, it does skew female, even with the main character being male.  I give this book a 3 out of 5 stars, it is entertaining but not really relatable for me.  

LInks 

Author: April Henry

Search and Rescue

Familial DNA

The Body in the Woods

By April Henry       

     This is a murder mystery set in the Pacific Northwest and our heroes are three intrepid teenagers that are new members of the local Search and Rescue team.  Alexis, Ruby, and Nick have their own reasons for deciding to volunteer for this group, but they never considered that they would discover a dead body on this first mission.  Or that the body would be a young homeless girl that had been murdered and of course the inadvertently have encountered the villain.  The teenagers are embroiled in the mystery as the murderer has discovered his next victim and has his eyes on one of our heroes.  

     Alexis is mature beyond her years as she cares for her mentally unstable mother and dreams of going to college.  Nick is a fatherless young man who dreams of being a hero like his dead father.  Finally, Ruby is a very intelligent and observant young lady whose parents are not happy with her involvement in SAR.  It is Ruby that is convinced that there is more to the murdered young girl and she tries to get Detective Harriman to listen to her doubts.  Of course, he is convinced he knows who the perpetrator is and ignores the teens.  The three bond in their attempt to oust the real killer, with a few mishaps along the way.  Will they be able to find the murderer before he turns his attention to his next victim or will they be able to put a stop to the death?  

     This is a very entertaining read and I would give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.  The subject matter of the book requires it to be mature and for mature readers, I would not suggest it for anybody younger than 8th grade.  The characters are in high school and there is some romance but I honestly do not feel that most readers would be interested in this book until high school.  The characters are well written and very recognizable.  The relationships feel genuine and plausible, it is very well written just not subject matter for middle school children.  

Links 

Parks of the city of Portland

SAR

Birds of the Pacific Northwest

On the hunt for serial killers in Portland