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Murder. Fiction.
Criminal investigation. Fiction.
Friendship. Fiction.
Eccentrics and eccentricities. Fiction.
Three Oregon high school students help the local police by volunteering with Portland Search and Rescue in this fast-paced kickoff to Henry-s Point Last Seen series. Alexis is sweet and suffering (her mentally ill mother requires lots of care). Ruby is smart, socially awkward, and obsessed with true crime. Nick has a hero complex; he wants to impress girls with his police work. While searching for an autistic man in the woods, they find the body of girl their age. Ruby is sure it-s the work of a serial killer, and she enlists Alexis and Nick to help find the culprit. Henry (
The first in Henry's Point Last Seen series follows three teen volunteers with Portland Search and Rescue after they discover the body of a homeless girl while looking for an autistic man lost in the woods. The girl was strangled, and true crime enthusiast Ruby believes she isn't the first; another homeless girl was found strangled a month earlier. When Detective Harriman rebuffs her eager theories, Ruby rallies Alexis and Nick to investigate. Blustering Nick wants to be as brave as his father, who died in combat. Empathetic Alexis, meanwhile, is haunted by the vulnerability of the homeless, especially since she is barely making ends meet with her mentally ill mother. And socially inept Ruby is so obsessed that she ignores the danger of catching the killer's eye. Henry uses rotating viewpoints, including the killer's, to develop both character and mystery. The fast-paced plot, mirroring familiar TV crime procedurals, makes this a good choice for reluctant readers, especially as it's possible to follow the clues and identify the killer before the final showdown. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With books like Girl, Stolen (2010), Henry has become a leading light in YA mystery. Readers whipping through her other books will move smoothly on to this one.
Voice of Youth Advocates (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)Alexis, Nick, and Ruby have all joined the Portland County Search and Rescue for different reasons. For Alexis, it is a breath of fresh air compared to her crazy home life; Nick is hoping to fill his deceased father's military shoes; and quirky Ruby is obsessed with solving crimes. One morning, after leaving class to go on a search for a missing man with autism, the teens find much more than they bargained for: the dead body of a teen girl. From this point forward, the three teens are fixated on the homicide. When they are kept at arm's length from the investigation by the police, however, they decide to do some detective work on their own. The only thing the trio does not anticipate is that the killer may have his sights on one of them.Henry has created not only a gripping mystery, but rich and detailed characters as well. The story is told from multiple points of view, including the three teens' and the killer's. The action starts right away, and does not stop until everything comes to a head at the end of the novel. Henry does a great job of setting the scene, taking the reader on a journey to solve the mystery, and still successfully introducing intricate plot lines and situations. This is a solid mystery that will appeal to reluctant readers.Loryn Aman.
Horn BookAlex, Nick, and Ruby, teens from widely different walks of life, are the newest additions to Portland County's Search and Rescue volunteers. They set out to find an autistic man who has been lost in the woods, but instead they find a murdered girl. A fresh, vivid setting and believably flawed characters are highlights of this accessible mystery, the first in a planned series.
School Library JournalGr 8 Up-On their first mission for the Portland County Search and Rescue team, Alexis, Nick, and Ruby don't find the missing man with autism they were looking for; instead they find the dead body of a young girl. Now these three teens from very different backgrounds must work together to find the killer. Complicating the issue is Alexis's mentally ill mother, who disappears after a paranoid episode, Nick's crushing feelings of inadequacy, and Ruby's struggles to find a place she belongs. Will they be able to find common ground with one another before the killer strikes again, maybe even at one of their own? Henry realistically portrays these three kids thrust into a real-life horror. Their doubts and fears, as well as their strengths, all ring true and teens will be able to identify with one of the protagonists. The adult characters, especially Alexis's mother, are also fully developed, albeit a bit slow on the uptake in the case of Ruby's parents. The actual mystery is not that intriguing, but a pervading sense of threat and danger is present throughout. Give this series opener to fans of character-driven mysteries. Erik Knapp, Davis Library, Plano, TX
Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)
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CHAPTER 1
TUESDAY
BLOOD
For Alexis Frost, Nick Walker, and Ruby McClure, it all started with a phone call and two texts. It ended with fear and courage, love and loathing, screaming and blood. Lots of blood.
* * *
When the classroom phone rang in American history, Alexis Frost straightened up and blinked, trying to will herself awake as the teacher answered it. She managed to yawn without opening her mouth, the cords stretching tight in her neck. Last night had been another hard one.
“Alexis?” Mrs. Fairchild turned toward her.
“Yes?” Her heart sped up. What was it this time? The possibilities were endless. None of them good.
“Could you come up here, please?”
Mrs. Fairchild was looking at Alexis as if she was seeing her in a new light. Had it finally happened, then, the thing she both feared and longed for? Had something happened to her mother?
* * *
Nick Walker’s thumbs were poised over the virtual keyboard of the phone he held on his lap. He was pretending to listen to Mr. Dill, his English teacher, while he was really texting Sasha Madigan, trying this angle and that to persuade her to study with him tonight. Which he hoped would mean lots of copying (on his part) and lots of kissing (on both their parts).
The phone vibrated in his hand. Mr. Dill was busy writing on the board, so Nick lifted it a little closer to his face. It wasn’t a reply from Sasha but a message from his Portland Search and Rescue team leader.
Search in Forest Park. Missing man. Meet time 1500.
His first SAR call-out! He jumped to his feet.
“Nick?” Mr. Dill turned and looked at him over the top of his glasses. “What is it?” Mr. Dill had a lot of rules. He had already complained about Nick’s habit of drawing—only Mr. Dill called it doodling—in class.
Nick held up his phone while pointing at it with his other hand as if he had been hired to demonstrate it. “I’m with Portland Search and Rescue, and we’ve been mobilized to find a man missing in Forest Park. I have to leave now.”
“Um, okay,” Mr. Dill said uncertainly. Someone in Wilson High’s administration had had to sign off on Nick being allowed to join searches during the school day, but maybe the information hadn’t filtered down to his teachers.
No matter. Nick was already out the door.
He just hoped someone from class would tell Sasha. A text wouldn’t do it justice.
Nick Walker, called out on a lifesaving mission.
* * *
Ruby McClure felt her phone buzz in her jeans pocket. She waited until the end of chemistry to check it.
Fifteen hundred made so much more sense than three P.M. Ruby preferred military time. No questions about whether “nine” meant morning or night. No having to rely on context. No one getting hung up on whether 1200 had an A.M. or a P.M. after it, which was a ridiculous idea because A.M. meant “ante meridiem” and P.M. meant “post meridiem” and meridiem was Latin for “midday,” and twelve noon was midday itself.
It was 1357 now. Which meant she had an hour to get home, change into hiking clothes, pick up her SAR backpack, and meet the rest of the team at the Portland sheriff’s office.
Piece of cake.
Ruby pulled out the keys to her car as she walked to the office to sign herself out. On the way, her phone buzzed again. It was Nick, asking for a ride.
Copyright © 2014 by April Henry
Excerpted from The Body in the Woods by April Henry
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
Alexis, Nick, and Ruby have very different backgrounds: Alexis has spent her life covering for her mom's mental illness, Nick's bravado hides his fear of not being good enough, and Ruby just wants to pursue her eccentric interests in a world that doesn't understand her. When the three teens join Portland County Sheriff's Search and Rescue, they are teamed up to search for a autistic man lost in the woods. What they find instead is a dead body. In a friendship that will be forged in danger, fear and courage, the three team up to find the girl's killer--before he can strike one of their own. This first book in April Henry's Point Last Seen YA mystery series, The Body in the Woods is full of riveting suspense, putting readers right in the middle of harrowing rescues and crime scene investigations. This title has Common Core connections.