DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE: An Echo Falls Mystery
by Peter Abrahams
HarperTrophy
ISBN: 0060737034
Ages 10-up
384 pages

• Read an Excerpt
• Author Talk -- June 2005

Ingrid Levin-Hill is a 13-year-old soccer player who competes on the A team. Here are some other interesting facts you should know about Ingrid: She and her math teacher don't get along. She has a boyfriend for the first time. She prayed for --- and got --- the lead in Alice in Wonderland. And, oh yes, one more little thing: Ingrid has to solve a murder after leaving some incriminating evidence at the scene of the crime.

For better and for worse, Ingrid's mother sells real estate and is out all the time. Ingrid's brother Ty plays football, and her father, who works late a lot, is constantly trying to build up his muscles by making himself exercise. Ingrid hates his boss, so it stands to reason that she hates Ingrid too.

As if all this weren't enough, things get curiouser and curiouser. Ingrid's grandfather owns a large tract of land in a very desirable area, a fact that does not escape Ingrid's mother, father and his dreaded boss. They try to get Grandpa to sell them his land so they can build condos, but Grandpa is as stubborn --- and as smart --- as they come. He and Ingrid devise a clever scheme to keep anyone from ever buying and building on his property.

And of course there's the little matter of the murder. Ingrid became inadvertently involved when she got lost, ended up at the house of a very weird lady, and left her red soccer shoes there. Then the poor woman was murdered. If the police find Ingrid's shoes, then her mother will know that she wandered off and ended up in a scary neighborhood. Ingrid would be grounded for sure. So she has to get her shoes back from the murder scene.

When she returns to the dark, empty house to look for her prized possession, someone else stealthily sneaks in, scaring Ingrid to death. She hides, terrified, under the murdered woman's bed, and sees the sneakers of the killer as he walks around the room. They're smeared with green paint and she can recognize them easily if she ever sees them again.

Meanwhile, as they say, the plot thickens. Two homeless men are arrested for the crime. Ingrid figures out that they aren't the murderers. And the police chief soon discovers that someone has removed the red shoes. As Ingrid tries to determine who owns the green-smudged sneakers, she finds herself deeper and deeper down into "the rabbit hole."

Everything is happening at once. The police chief wants to talk to Ingrid, while his son would like to make a date. The rehearsals for Alice in Wonderland start to go bad when the director falls and gets hurt, and a new director takes charge. All this time, Ingrid is getting closer and closer to finding the person with the green-painted sneakers. When she finally does figure out who the murderer really is (bet you won't!), she barely escapes with her life.

As you might imagine, there's never a dull moment in this book, as intrepid Ingrid juggles soccer, the play, her new boyfriend, and the murder. DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE will have readers turning pages --- and guessing.

   --- Reviewed by Robert Oksner (oksnerinc@attglobal.net)

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