"Book Review for 1st quarter"

William Vanderpoel
9-30-08
B
“Down the Rabbit Hole book review”
Down the Rabbit Hole, by Peter Abrahams. Harper Collins Publishers, 2005. Genre: Mystery (murder)
Down the Rabbit Hole is Peter Abrahams' first book in the Echo Falls series. The protagonist, Ingrid, lives in a town called Echo Falls. She has to find out who murdered a girl named Katie, before the police accuse her of the murder. She is only involved, because she left her bright red custom made soccer cleats at the crime scene.
“…juggles mystery with school life, avoids being noticed by clueless parents, gets into mortal danger, solves mystery, and explains it to police.”(Berman, 2005) The book cover says, “Ingrid realizes she must solve the murder on her own-before it’s too late!”
This book reminds me of A Wrinkle in Time, because in parts of Down the Rabbit Hole Chief Strade (chief of police) is searching for evidence in the woods that would help solve the murder. In A Wrinkle in Time the Murray’s are looking for the witches. Both stories use the woods as a symbol of wonder or hiding. This also reminds me of the book Tom Sawyer. Both of the main characters are sly, and are good at lying. Ingrid uses her skills to get out of trouble with the police, while Tom uses his skills to get people to do work for him.
“My friends, this may come as a surprise, but after our wonderful production of Dial M for Murder, I feel a sudden and very deep need to refresh myself. My plans take me far away, to Alaska or even beyond. I want honest physical work, space, a chance to work things out in my head.” (181-182)
I enjoy this author a lot even though this is the only book of his that I have read. I like how the author had a mysterious tone while writing, as you can see above. With this tone, the author gives you the feeling that each of the characters has their own mystery and this book is just telling about one of the characters mysteries. This tone also makes the book very suspenseful and makes you not want to put the book down. I also liked the characters diversity in their personality. For example, Grampy is a hot head who is determined not to sell his farm, while Ingrid’s mom is calm and compassionate, and wants Grampy to sell his farm.