Pat's brother, Coop, has always been drawn underground. Exactly a year after Coop left without saying good-bye, Pat receives a package in the mail: a handheld voice recorder and a supply of memory sticks. Through the recordings, Coop tells Pat about his new life in New York City. He is certain he is nearing the thing that has called to him his whole life. But when Coop's recordings suddenly stop, Pat worries that something bad has happened. He sneaks off to New York during winter break to follow the clues and stumbles into a secret, underground world. Partnering with Kate, a girl from "the Deep," they plunge into a world of dangerous secrets, racing to save Coop. Characters are original and well-rounded, and flashes of humor keep the tone from getting too intense. Told in epistolary format, the mix of Pat's journal entries and transcriptions of Coop's recordings makes for a fast-paced, compelling read. Fans of Smith will not be disappointed.

Patrick follows his daring older brother Coop into an underground (literally) conspiracy involving secret subterranean communities, decades-old radical plots, unsolved murders, and an enigmatic girl in sunglasses. The plot and backstory are solidly conceived but sketchily executed, with characters rather broadly developed and much of the action relegated to expository dialogue. Nevertheless, the terse, punchy writing style sustains tension.

Gr 6-9 Fans of the "Tunnels" series (Scholastic, 2008) will enjoy Smith's latest. Pat and Coop were always close. Coop even let Pat help with his secret tunnel project under Washington, DC. But after an accidental gas explosion, Coop runs away. One year later, Pat receives a package with a recorder and a message that leads him on a mission to find and rescue his old friend. Smith spends much of the first 100 pages on backstory, though it is imperative to understanding the relationship between Pat and Coop had and why Pat is so motivated to travel alone to New York City to find him. This makes the pacing slow at first, but it increases dramatically once Pat makes it to the society under the city. The second half is better paced and action-packed. Beneath hits all the notes of an underground novel, with several allusions to classics such as Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth and H.G. Wells's The Time Machine . Avid lovers of adventure fiction will enjoy this quick read. Patrick Tierney, Dr. Martin Luther King Elementary School RI