Bet Your Life

December 1, 2014
Teen gumshoe Jess Tennant investigates the mysterious circumstances surrounding a local boy's "accident."When Seb Dawson suffers a head injury and is left for dead on the side of the road, Jess smells something fishy. The police, led by her ex-boyfriend's father, aren't asking the right questions, so Jess takes it upon herself to uncover the motives behind Seb's attack. The tiny town Jess lives in supplies the author with several red herrings and subplots that lay the groundwork for future Jess Tennant novels. This works as both a pro and con: The sheer number of characters complements the whodunit atmosphere well at first, but it's hard not to get bogged down after a while keeping everyone straight. Recollecting who's related to whom and who's got a feud with whom will have some readers scribbling down notes on scrap paper, and the mystery's reveal may feel hardly worth the effort in hindsight. It's a great big world the author's constructed here, but the book's actual plot feels thin by comparison. The investigation is coupled with Jess' pining for her ex, a central-casting hunk with little personality. The book could easily be cut down by a quarter and lose nothing of value, but the final pages intimate that this relationship will be an important factor in the series going forward. Here's hoping it deepens in complexity. A perfectly serviceable potboiler. (Mystery. 12-16)

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January 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-In this second Jess Tennant mystery, it's Halloween and the brutal beating of a fellow student has Jess playing sleuth again. Though the altercation nearly killed Seb Dawson, Jess is hard-pressed to find someone who's actually broken up about it. Most students, and even Seb's stepmother, believe he had it coming due to his not-so-funny mean pranks and nicknames, but Jess takes the case anyway as a favor to his younger half-sister. What she finds is evidence of a wealthy bully with a trail of girls and women alike who count themselves victims of Seb's blackmail. She's all but confirmed her suspicions about who's to blame for Seb's head trauma when she finds herself fighting for her life. A near-death-by-fire encounter brings her and policeman Dan Henderson, her ex-boyfriend's father, closer and also complicates her personal life with on-again-off-again boyfriend Will. And just when she thought she was finally settling into Port Sentinel, her absentee father decides to move to town to woo her mother back post-divorce, guaranteeing a sequel. Casey has really grown into writing for teens with this second installment. The characterization is better, and the coverage of the party scene, and the fashion commentary were all well done. The balance between the mystery and Jess's complicated love life add to the intriguing stories of the many secondary characters make this a worthy purchase for school and public libraries.-Samantha Lumetta, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH

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