What we saw : a thriller

First Title Value for Searching:

Personal Author:

Hahn, Mary Downing

Physical Description:

196 pages ; 22 cm.

Genre:

Thrillers (Fiction)

Detective and mystery fiction.

Summary:

"When best friends Abbi and Skylar witness a clandestine meeting between a mysterious woman and someone in a dark van, they're thrilled. Finally, a mystery to spice up the summer! Who could these people be? Why are they meeting? Are they spies? Criminals? The two girls are determined to find out. But then a local woman goes missing and is found dead in the woods. And Abbi and Skylar realize that their detective work could hold the keys to solving her murder. Suddenly, sleuthing isn't so fun anymore. As tensions rise and their friendship frays, the girls find themselves in increasing danger, and must choose between keeping a secret or exposing a life-altering truth."--

Subject Term:

Best friends -- Juvenile fiction

Girls -- Juvenile fiction

Missing persons -- Juvenile fiction

Murder -- Investigation -- Juvenile fiction.

Detective and mystery stories -- Juvenile fiction

Audience/Lexile:

"Ages 8-12" --jacket.

Publication Info:

New York, NY : Clarion Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2023, c2022.

Subject:

Best friends -- Juvenile fiction

Girls -- Juvenile fiction

Missing persons -- Juvenile fiction

Murder -- Investigation -- Juvenile fiction.

Detective and mystery stories -- Juvenile fiction

Thrillers (Fiction)

Detective and mystery fiction.

SAILS ISBN:

9780358414414

9780358697312

Available:

Library	Shelf Number	Shelf Location	Status
Searching... Plainville Public Library	J HAH	CHILDREN FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Ahern MS Media Center Foxboro	FIC HAH	Stacks	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Attleboro Public Library	MR HAHN,M	MIDDLE READER	Searching... Unknown
Searching... East Bridgewater Public Library	HAHN,M 2022	CHILDREN FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Hanson Public Library	HAHN	YOUTH-FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Keeley Library	FIC SCA HAH	FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Mansfield Public Library	J FIC HAHN	CHILDREN FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... New Bedford Free Public Library	J FIC HAHN	CHILDREN FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Norfolk Public Library	JF HAHN	CHILDREN FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Pembroke Public Library	J FIC HAHN, M.	CHILDREN FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Seekonk Public Library	JFIC HAHN	CHILDREN FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Somerset Public Library	Y HAHN MARY DOWNING	CHILDREN FICTION	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A chilling murder mystery lies at the heart of this page-turning thriller about a missing teacher, small town secrets, and turbulent tween friendships from master of middle grade horror Mary Downing Hahn.

When best friends Abbi and Skylar witness a clandestine meeting between a mysterious woman and someone in a dark van, they're thrilled. Finally, a mystery to spice up the summer!

Who could these people be Why are they meeting Are they spies Criminals The two girls are determined to find out. But then a local woman goes missing and is found dead in the woods. And Abbi and Skylar realize that their detective work could hold the keys to solving her murder. Suddenly, sleuthing isn't so fun anymore.

As tensions rise and their friendship frays, the girls find themselves in increasing danger, and must choose between keeping a secret or exposing a life-altering truth.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

A small-town murder heralds the death of childhood innocence in this character-driven thriller by Hahn (The Thirteenth Cat). Longing to shake things up during summer break ("Don't you want to see exactly where Evansburg stops and Plattsville starts? Haven't you ever wondered about endings and beginnings?"), 12-year-old Abbi's reckless best friend, Skylar, persuades her to start sneaking out to an abandoned tree house near their town's limits, where they dodge a pair of weed-dealing bullies and observe weekly assignations between two disguised adults. Abbi imagines the grown-ups as spies, and Skylar as an adulterous couple, but the discovery of the woman's corpse in the nearby woods--and her identity as someone they both know--soon shatters their fantasies. Grappling with grief, experiencing tension with Skylar, and unable to confide in her mother, Abbi's reluctant connection to the murder investigation propels her toward sinister danger. Creating suspense through Abbi's anxiety and ominous setting details, including claustrophobia-inducing woods, Hahn holds the thriller plot in the background until the book's second half, focusing throughout on nuanced character relationships, strained and reborn through the tensions of growing up. Main characters cue as white. Ages 8--12. (Sept.)

Horn Book Review

"Pool. Mall. Library." The summer after seventh grade was getting boring until Skylar persuades Abbi to do something different. The best friends ride bikes to the outskirts of town, where they find an old treehouse and claim it as their own private spot to observe the world. Soon they find a mystery happening right below them: every Thursday, two cars park under the tree. A woman wearing huge sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat exits her car and gets into a man's (they can hear his voice) SUV, which then drives off. One Thursday, however, the woman storms off into the woods after an argument in the SUV. The girls are intrigued but don't connect what they've witnessed to the report that their beloved art teacher is missing. The first half of the novel is deliberately paced, with hints and clues tantalizingly placed; by the time Abbi and Skylar realize what they've seen, readers will be a step ahead of them, witnessing their mistakes and bad decisions. Beyond the mystery is a compelling story of family, friends, bullies, and peer-group conformity. Hahn, who has made a long career of writing thrillers, once again demonstrates how engrossing a good story can be. Dean Schneider September/October 2022 p.84(c) Copyright 2022. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Review

Two girls get swept up in a murder mystery in their small town. It's a hot summer, and 12-year-old Abbi and her best friend, Skylar, spend their days at the mall, the pool, and the library. When Skylar, the more daring of the duo, decides they should bike to the edge of town, a seedy area where the bullies from their school live, Abbi has reservations but says yes anyway. The discovery of a treehouse makes the journey worthwhile, and things become even more interesting when they spot a mysterious man and woman meeting up just below. Are they Russian spies like Abbi imagines or just regular adults having an affair like Skylar's dad did? The fun mystery turns serious, though, when the woman runs off into the menacing woods. When a beloved teacher goes missing, the friends piece together the information and have to figure out how to help without winding up in trouble with their parents, or worse. The prolific Hahn, particularly known for her eerie ghost stories, stays away from the supernatural in this quick-paced tale but keeps the thrills coming. She expertly captures the feel of a small-town summer and tumultuous middle school friendships and never talks down to young readers or shies away from frank descriptions of real-world threats. Still, an optimistic ending shows there is always light and joy to be found. The protagonists are cued White. A chilling and thrilling addition to a beloved author's oeuvre. (Thriller. 9-13) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.