Published June 2012 Bloomsbury
From the publisher:
Rose and Joshua first met when Joshua and his dad came to live with Rose and her mum. Then Rose and Josh's world turns upside down when their mother and father go out for dinner one evening and never return. With police inquiries going nowhere, Rose is dispatched to live with her chilly, unfriendly grandmother and Joshua is sent to live with his uncle. Then Joshua comes to London to study and Rose is witness to not one, but two murders. Why is this happening to Rose? Can it be anything to do with the investigations Joshua has been doing into the disappearance of their parents?
Anne Cassidy wrote one of the best books I have ever read, Looking For JJ, so I had high hopes for this book.
This book is, I think, the first in a new series. There are two stories in this book, that of Rosie and Joshua's missing parents and that of the murders of Ricky and Emma, two students from Rosie's college.
Since the disappearance of her mother and her partner, Rosie has lead a very quite solitary life. Living with her Grandmother, she just wants to be left alone and get on with her life. When she is the last person to see Ricky alive and the person to report his murder, she is all of a sudden the centre of attention. Then the murder of Emma, makes Rosie think that she can help figure out how the murders are linked, and why she was the last person to see both teenagers alive.
At the same time her 'stepbrother' Joshua has begun an online search for their parents, he believes they are still alive, and he doesn't think the police are doing enough to find them.
At the beginning of the book there are simply two separate story lines, but as you reach the end of the novel, the two stories become linked. The murders are solved, but the search for their parents has just begun. They have proof that their parents are alive and at the end of the book they have taken possession of the 'Murder Notebooks' that will hopefully lead them closer to the truth.
What I like about this book is that it is something different for teenage readers. You don't often find murder mysteries written for teens, mysteries yes, but not murders. The murders are not described in horrible graphic detail, the books are more about figuring out 'who done it' rather than focusing on the crimes themselves. Anne Cassidy is an English author, and the books have that real English TV crime show feel. A good choice if your readers are looking for a gritty interesting read.
Who will like this
book: Girls and Boys age 14+
Read it if you like: Murder mysteries
Read it if you like: Murder mysteries
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