Dead Connection

Starred review from March 20, 2006
This superb debut novel concerns two very different individuals trying to discover the fate of a high school cheerleader who disappeared from a small California town. When Nikki vanishes without a trace, her disappearance devastates the community. In brief, compulsively readable chapters, the author shifts the perspective among various interested parties. Murray, a loner in high school who quietly converses with the spirits of dead children and adolescents in the local cemetery, hears a new voice pleading for help, and wonders whether it could be Nikki. Deputy sheriff Gates thinks that a troubled 22-year-old who has come through social services may know more than anyone suspects. Throughout this suspenseful book, Murray and Gates work separately to discover Nikki's fate, confronting some of their own demons in the process. As the author traces their encounters with a wide variety of people, each of whom brings them a little closer to discovering the girl's fate, he also demonstrates how each exchange alters not only Murray and Gates but those with whom they are in contact. Even the people in supporting roles are extremely well developed, especially the cemetery caretaker and his daughter, both of whom play crucial roles in Murray's maturation. Readers will find themselves rooting for these characters. The unexpected twist at the end may well take readers aback, but will leave them with the impression that the community will recover—and serves as a reminder that appearances can be deceiving. Ages 12-up.

April 1, 2006
Gr 8 Up -Teenage loner Murray Kiefer has found comfort and companionship by -visiting with - the dead in his local cemetery. Schoolmate Pearl is more outgoing and confident; she lives with her widowed father, the caretaker of the cemetery. A third teen, cheerleader Nikki Parker, has disappeared, and everyone speculates about whether she'll be found alive. Price weaves the stories of these characters -and those of a drunken cop, a trusting and loyal father, and a jaded but smart detective -into a murder mystery with compelling psychological and spiritual overtones. Neither Pearl nor Murray is interested in befriending the other but eventually a relationship develops. How long it will take the good cop to catch up with the bad one -and just how -bad - the latter might be -keeps the tension high. The cemetery setting and Murray's sensitivity to the dead aren't ghoulish, nor are these details played for laughs. At the same time, the teen's social awkwardness elicits sympathy in readers. He is simply who he is and is able to know just a little something about which others seem less aware, while being in the dark about things that his peers take for granted. Pearl is strong and eventually admirable as she gains respect for Murray. The degradation of the drunken cop adds a gritty edge to a story where most (but not all) of the violence takes place offstage. This will be an easy sell to mystery readers, and will have lots of appeal to those familiar with that genre only through television or movies." -Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2006
Gr. 9--12. Nikki is dead----and she's angry that her killer has hidden her where she won't be found. Enter Murray, a high-school student who likes to sit in the cemetery and listen to what the dead have to say. In fact, on his own tombstone he would like the words " friend to the deceased." So begins this mystery, with a conclusion that's inevitable, but twists and turns that are not. Each brisk chapter is told from the point of view of one of the many characters. Interestingly, most of the main characters are adults: Deputy Gates, who has personal reasons for solving the crime; Robert Barry Compton, an ex-con who witnessed the crime; Janockek, Pearl's understanding father; and Billup, the frustrated public affairs officer. By delving into the adults' problems as they meld with the mystery of Nikki's disappearance, Price has given the book an adult veneer. Readers will like the edginess and be intrigued by the extrasensory elements as well as the darker turns the mystery takes. This is something different.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)