Poe322 2010-07-24

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

In a small town named Skeleton Creek, two teenagers embark on a journey full of mystery, suspense and terror that could change the entire town. Ryan and Sarah have been friends since they were little then when investigating the dredge things change for them, Ryan breaks his leg confining him to his bed, Sarah presses on with the investigation to find out the secrets but at what cost?

When reading this book for one of my masters' classes I thought it would be another boring middle school read. Once I got started I could not put it down. I was instantly drawn in by Carman's writing style. The level of foreshadowing and the suspense in which he writes grips you as you flip through the pages. Speaking of the pages, how genius was he to write it like it was in a composition book in the lead characters handwriting is such a different take on a novel. Let's not forget about the online portion of this book. As being a junior high school English teacher I love the interactive aspect of the book. Students love to feel like they are a part of something and this novel gives it to them.

I cannot really think of a negative for this book, if anything it might be the cliffhanger ending, because you want to know what happens in the end, but again Carman does a masterful job of creating anticipation for the next installment, Ghost in the Machine.

As being an English teacher and having to cover the mystery genre, I think I have found the new novel I will be teaching this year in class.

2010-06-06

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

My teacher read this book as a read aloud in our classroom. I loved it!!!!! The videos made it easier to understand the book and more into the book too. My class didn't want my teacher to put the book down!!! The videos some of the videos you did not want to stop and some were to short. I loved the way they ended on a cliff hanger.

Bridgette N. Ramirez 2010-05-12

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

My daughter read this book, she liked it so much that she had to get the second story and is waiting for the third.

2010-02-09

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

From the beginning, the book just keeps you watching the videos and reading. It's just great! I just read and read. Ryan talks about his thoughts and about Old Joe Bush and the dredge. The dredge is a big machine that filters the gold out of the rocks. When Ryan and his friend Sarah snuck out to see the dredge, Ryan broke his leg. All this happened before the book and he is forbidden to see Sarah. While he is laid up, he starts contacting Sarah and she sends him videos. I CAN'T WAIT TO READ THE NEXT ONE!

Son of V.Wright, reviewer

Steven J. Sylvester 2010-02-02

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

I bought this book for my daughter. She absolutely loved it. After she read it, she gave it to her sister to read, who in turn lent it to a friend. They all loved the book. All of them commented on the fact that they were able to interact with the book because of the internet connection within its pages.