Nine Days

April 29, 2013
Washington Post editor Hiatt draws inspiration from actual events in this tense tale of international intrigue. Sophomore Ethan Wynkoop's interest in China leads him to befriend Ti-Anna Chen, whose father is an exiled Chinese activist. When Ti-Anna's father goes missing while visiting Hong Kong, Ethan and Ti-Anna embark on a bold, foolhardy plan to track him down. Using forged documents and a borrowed credit card, they travel across the world, their search taking them to Hong Kong, and later to Vietnam. As they unravel the secret of Mr. Chen's disappearance, they get caught up in a human trafficking operation that could spell the end to their journey. Detail-rich and character-driven, this story showcases issues like human rights violations and slavery; abundant references to Chinese political history saturate Hiatt's prose, but the narrative avoids becoming overly erudite, balancing education and adventure. Even the hard-to-swallow elementsânamely, how the teens get as far as they doâare handled believably and with repercussions. A captivating thriller grounded in real-world problems. Ages 12âup. Agent: Raphael Sagalyn, Sagalyn Literary Agency.

March 1, 2013
Human rights abuses in China get all too personal for a couple of American high school students in this appealing thriller. Tenth-graders Ethan and Ti-Anna gradually become closer friends and partner investigators when Ti-Anna's father disappears. Known for his activism on behalf of Chinese dissidents, he loses contact with his family on a trip to Hong Kong. Ethan and Ti-Anna engineer a trip to Asia to investigate, which ultimately puts the initially retiring Ti-Anna into peril. It is a dangerous journey, full of mysterious threats, that requires them each to trust and support the other. It's not a romance at all, though there are some overtones of that: Front and center is the conundrum of how they will track someone who doesn't want to be tracked, in a strange city and with the government as their opponent. There's a nice vibe to the friendship between the two, which is supported by the assurance that all is ultimately well; Ethan states at the beginning that the account he narrates is being written for a judge. Hiatt neatly folds in information and background on 20th-century Chinese history and current events. Few mysteries combine cultural diversity, politics and physical danger with a lighthearted friendship. This engaging mix will have great appeal to middle school readers in search of adventure; the geopolitical education is a nice bonus. (Thriller. 11-16)

COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2013

Gr 9 Up-Ti-Anna's father is a famous Chinese dissident, living in exile in America. When he disappears during a trip to Hong Kong, she is convinced that she can find him. She and her friend Ethan follow his trail to Vietnam, where they realize that they have walked into the same trap her father encountered. But while he was arrested and taken back to China, Ti-Anna will be sold into slavery. Told by Ethan as part of a court-mandated confession (his parents reported him and their credit card missing), this is a political-action thriller inspired by a true story. Hiatt, an editor and columnist at the Washington Post, got the idea to write Nine Days from the work of dissident Wang Bingzhang's daughter (also named Ti-Anna) to free her father. However, despite the real-world inspiration, the protagonists' adventure (and the adults who offer only halfhearted attempts to stop them) requires a great suspension of disbelief. Ti-Anna, who is the driving force of plot, has several unexplained mood swings. While Ethan's narration is useful to impart background information about modern Chinese history, his inability to speak the language means he has to sum up important conversations after Ti-Anna has debriefed him, which can be distracting.-Jennifer Rothschild, Arlington County Public Libraries, VA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.