Into the Dark

INTO THE DARK, the third installment in Peter Abrahams's Echo Falls series, finds 13-year-old Ingrid Levin-Hill in the middle of a number of family crises. Her Grampy is having trouble keeping up with his farm, her mother and father don't seem to be getting along, and she finds a body on Grampy's property with her maybe-more-than-friend Joey Strade. As Ingrid solves the mystery, many family secrets come out in this fast-paced adventure. Ingrid barely has time to piece together clues in between helping her family, starring as Gretel in the community theater production of Hansel and Gretel, going to school and keeping up with her friends. But when Grampy is arrested for murder, she has no choice but to find answers. Grampy will not discuss where he was at the time the crime occurred or what he was doing. There is a lot of that behavior going around, but Ingrid is determined to find out everything. A visit to help Grampy with chores becomes frightening when Harris Thatcher from the Department of Conservation comes to talk to him about the "pond" Grampy had made with illegal explosives. Grampy sends the gentleman off with the threat of a .22 rifle and shouting. While she's there, he also gets a "wrong number" from a Dr. Pillman and will not talk to her about the bruising on his arm. The editor of the local paper is doing a story on the five surviving World War II men in the area, and Ingird is surprised to hear Grampy referred to as a hero. He refuses to discuss it, then abruptly changes his mind and agrees to become part of the piece. Soon after, while Ingrid is snowshoeing with Joey, they find a body on Grampy's property. It's Mr. Thatcher, and he was killed with a rifle! Chief Strade, Joey's father, knows that Ingrid is lying about Grampy, but she will not tell anyone that she saw him threaten Thatcher with the same kind of weapon. So he forbids Joey from talking to her. When Ingrid tries to get answers at home, she finds that her mother is distracted and her father is never around. Even her good friend Mia tells her she's moving away. Ingrid realizes she must solve things on her own, or else Grampy will go to prison. She begins finding clues in everything from a New York parking receipt to stories of World War II to talking to Grampy's neighbors. The Chief is watching her, and she lies to him again, which he seems to be aware of. She knows that some secrets are not hers to tell. Life at home gets quite crazy and upsetting, and Ingrid finds a surprising bond with her older brother. He joins her in learning about Grampy's heroic past and how it affects their situation today. While readers may figure out the identity of the murderer along with Ingrid, the details of the characters and their secrets will keep them turning pages. Ingrid is a smart, realistic 13-year-old with a sense of humor. In INTO THE DARK, she really starts to grow up and find her own way through some very tough family situations. While this third Echo Falls book is a darker

As an adult who's read Holmes, and as a child who read every single Nancy Drew book she could get her hands on, along with the Hardy Boys and Boxcar children, I'm no newcomer to the mystery genre of any age group. And I have to say, Ingrid is my favorite gumshoe of all. This series is excellent for fans of the Sammy Keyes books (another awesome heroine.) Echo Falls is filled to the brim with shady characters, and Ingrid's prepared to take them all down. In this third installment, Abrahams really gets into the dark (haha, see what I did there?) nitty gritty, with Ingrid's parents' marriage in trouble, and her grandfather in the worst trouble of all: he's become a suspect to murder. Ingrid, of course, is on the case with her trusty sidekick dog, Nigel (a throwback to good old Watson). Into the Dark encompasses a wide range of real-life situations in addition to the murder she must solve. The family problems are deep, and Abrahams does a good job of mirroring reality (he really takes no shortcuts). For any parent who wishes to supply their child with a great role model, give your kid the gift of this series. Ingrid isn't perfect, but she marches her way through her problems with a dignity and shrewdness that many adults don't have. Which is why I also recommend this book to adults. I'd say a few of you could learn a thing or two from Ingrid.

Abrahams packs his stories of Echo Falls with so much symbolism and hidden (or deferred) meaning an adult will read them with as much satisfaction as the child. He proceeds intuitively, as Ingird does, always referring back to the logical methods of Sherlock Holmes to ground her. In the present case, INTO THE DARK, don't you love how little Brucie tries to force everyone in the play into adopting Dr. Strangelove-style German accents when they are going to be putting on HANSEL AND GRETEL? It's a cute scene but when you finish with the whole book you can see it as a foreshadowing of what eventually happens to Ingrid when she attempts to rescue Nigel from the place where he has been confined. I did guess the reason why the conservation agent had been shot to death, but the story is nevertheless breathtakingly told and the last eighty pages rush by in a single clump. Abrahams uses the bleakness of the snowy landscape--the white of the snow, the brown of the trees, the gray of the sky--to illustrate how little by little everything that Ingrod once took for granted has been stripped from her--her belief in the sanctity of her parents' marriage, her dependence on "Grampy," even the fact of her dog always being there for her. I still don't exactly understand why Grampy kept quiet when he was being accused of murder, but maybe the fourth book in the series will explain it a little better. In any case this is the most exciting crime series being written in this country, either for juveniles or adults, so we're lucky.

Book arrived day BEFORE scheduled delivery which was great as we were all so eager to read it. Super speedy & professional.

I am an adult who was an avid fan of Nancy Drew as a child. This series is fabulous on many counts. At the center of the story we have a brave and oh-so-resourceful 13-year-old GIRL, Ingrid, who seems to me very realistic. Echo Falls, her town, is a magical place that is a kind of Everytown-- you might want to move there yourself. As the mysteries unfold, Ingrid is trying to learn her way around town. (Can you adults remember a day when the geography of your hometown was a mystery to you?) The mystery plots are well-crafted, but beyond that how comforting it is to find yourself, in this three-book series, in a familiar place where you feel you know-- through Ingrid's eyes-- the local orthodontist, soccer coach and ice cream parlor. And when you meet Mom, Dad, Grampy, big brother Ty and dog Nigel, your world is complete. Although some may find this third in the series "dark," I found the Lemony Snicket series much darker and unpleasant. And as I recall, some not-so-good things happened in Harry Potter. Bravo to a wonderfully-written, imaginative series. Can't wait for the fourth installment!