Behind the Curtain part 1

As always-SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!

Now I'm reading Behind the Curtain. This is the sequel to Down the Rabbit Hole, but it doesn't continue the story. Each book is a new mystery with the same thirteen year old girl as the main character. I haven't gotten far into it but a mystery has already unraveled. First of all, I think Ingrid's dad lost his job. He seems angry, was looking at jobs.com, and an article in the newspaper talked about some new lady who just moved and is now working for Mr.Ferrand (Ingrid's dad's boss). These are all pretty good reasons to think he lost his job, but he hasn't admitted it to Ingrid, and he keeps talking about the Ferrands. Secondly, Mr.Ferrand's daughter Cloe invited Ingrid over for a swim even though they are not friends, and they had a great time. How many girls would ever invite a girl who's dad was just fired by her dad over for a friendly swim? Ingrid thinks Cloe is lonely even though she is rich and beautiful. I also think Ingrid's older brother Ty is on steroids. He plays football, and he made a quick and big jump in the amount of weights he lifts. Also, he received a visit from the brother of Ingrids friend Stacy, who is a bad boy. When Ingrid was at Stacy's house, she found a wad of cash hidden in Stacy's brother's baseball glove, even though he supposedly had no money. I think he got the money from selling steroids to Ty. My last evidence of that is that in health, Ingrid's teacher talked about steroids and how they can give you bad acne, which magically appeared on Ty's previously acne free back.

I think this book is pretty good, but it is to early for me to tell if I like it as much as Down the Rabbit Hole. This book has a lot of mysteries and its fun to figure everything out (even though it is kind of easy), just like the other one. However, Behind the curtain doesn't jump right into the mystery. In book 1, Kate Covak died pretty quickly. I still have no idea what the big mystery is in book 2. I'll have to wait and see what happens. I remember hearing that in one of the books, Ingrid gets kidnapped, but I don't know if its this book or the next one. Anyway I think that plot would be very exciting. Anyway, I like this a lot so far and I'll definitely get back to you soon about the main mystery, and about Ingrid's dad, Cloe Ferrand, and Ty's issues. I guess this book is seeming kind of dreary. I mean, it sucks that Ingrid's dad is out of a job and didn't tell her. Also, Cloe never seemed like the kind of girl who was short on friends in the first book. It would be very sad and disappointing if Ty actually was on steroids. I hope this book (unlike the last book) is not as predictable as it seems and all of these bad things aren't really happening.

Down the Rabbit Hole part 2

SPOILER! you know the drill.

Hello. The end of Down the Rabbit Hole is so good. It gets boring at some parts and its kind of annoying already knowing who the murderer is, but Ill survive and the very ending is still very exciting. So, where were we? oh ya. OK. Ingrid starts hanging out with this kid named Joey. She goes over to his house and sees a catapult he built. Ingrid stays at his house for dinner. During dinner, the family discusses the murder. Joey's dad is a police officer, and of course, Ingrid is interested in the mystery. Turns out she is a suspect! CHief strade(joeys dad) told her about a change in the crime scene. He said that one day, red cleats were there and the next day they weren't. Chief strade thinks the murderer is on the girls soccer team, and Ingrid gets a few visits from him.

Meanwhile at Alice and Wonderland practice, every thing is going great. Jill, the direcor, calls Ingrid in to practice. Ingrid accidentally spills Fresca on the stage, but gets distracted and moves on. Vincent slips on the Fresca and pushes the piano towards Jill and BAM! her head hits the corner of the table. She is ok by the end of the story but she is taken to the hospital. Vincent takes over the job and makes the play way more dreary. Ingrid hates it and isnt very good at it so Vincent kicks her out of the play. Later, Ingrid pays a visit to the only person around with the last name Covak. Mrs. Covak is Kates grandma and lost her glasses. They have a little chat, but Ms.Covak doesn't give much information. Ingrid steals an old envelope from Philip Presscott, the person Kate was going to marry until he "moved to Alaska". Anyway, the envelope is for Kate and it says that Phillip Presscott accedentally killed David Vardak during a play, cant go to jail, and is moving.

This is the most exciting part of the book. The busting. So Ingrid visits the theater at night, when VIncent would be there because he got his key once he became director. She finds a cat that leads her to VIncent. He is down in the basement digging. He hits something hard and pulls out a typewriter. The letter to Ms. Covak was typed from a type writer. Then he pulls out a scull! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! When I read that I freaked out. Then everything comes together in Ingrid's head. Vincent wrote the letter so that nobody would worry about Mr. Presscott and how he killed him. The stupid part is that David (Vincent) trapped himself from acting by telling Kate that he was dead. Also he only killed Mr.Presscott because he liked Kate, and he couldn't marry Kate if she thought he was dead. Anyway, the only reason Vincent moved back to Eco Falls is because he heard that they were doing renovations to the theater. Long ago, he burried Philip Prescott there and had to get it out before they found it. Thats why he needed the key to the theater.

After the narrator explains everything there is this big intense conversation between the two of them. Ingrid says something that makes Vincent mad and than the scene comes that all good mysteries have. The big chace. Ingrid runs and both she and Vincent end up in the water falls. Vincent tries to drown Ingrid, but Ingrid pushes him under the water. He grabs her shoes and is trying to snap her leg but Ingrid just kicks off her shoes. Vincent floats away dead. Later Ingrid spills everything to Chief Strade. Down the Rabbit Hole is really good book. Maybe not as good as Hunger Games and Catching Fire, but definitely a good book. Ingrid is a great character who is strong, independent, and definitely brave. When she is alone at night in the middle of the woods about to sneak into a dead person's house, she just keeps moving along. She never gives up and is really good at solving mysteries. Most importantly, Ingrid is a very entertaining main character to follow.

Down the Rabbit Hole part 1

Spoiler!!!!!

Stop reading if you are reading or want to read "Down the Rabbit Hole".

I mean it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you didn't know already from reading the spoiler which you should have read, I am in the middle of reading "Down the Rabbit Hole". It is about a thirteen year old girl named Ingrid. She loves Sherlock Holmes and she always tries to think like him making her very observant. Ingrid has an older brother named Ty and two parents who always push her to do better in math and soccer. One day while walking to soccer practice she gets lost and ends up meeting Katharine Covak or as most people call her Cracked up Katie. Ingrid waits in her house while Kate calls her a Taxi but she accidentally leaves her cleats in the house. She never told her mom about any of this. Later, she finds out that Katie was murdered. Ingrid is missing her cleats and decides one night to sneak into her house and take the cleats back. She finds them upstairs but another person comes into the house. She runs under a bed and listens while the person comes upstairs. He passes the bed and takes a playbill for "Dial M for Murder". Ingrid notices that the person is wearing green splattered Adidas shoes. She gets out of the house and runs home really fast. A police officer chases her into the wood, but she gets away. She gets home safe and sound. The next day, the paper tells of two men who the police think committed the crime. For some reason, Ingrid doesn't think they were the culprits. Then and there she decides that she will solve the mystery, and get the right people in jail.

Around that same time, Jill, the directer at Presscott Players, announces that the show will be Alice in Wonderland. Ingrid wants to be Alice. Soon the auditions come and Ingrid sees Cloe Ferrand, a beautiful girl who's dad ,who is a millionaire, employs Ingrid's dad, is trying out and has her heart set on the part of Alice as well. Ingrid scores the part and Cloe is mad. Anyway, at auditions, Ingrid meets Vincent Dunn who is and adult who gets the part of the mad-hatter. He ends up driving her home, but Ingrid tells him that she live in the house that the people convicted of the crime live. He drives her there and she brakes into there house. She has to know if they have a pair of green splattered shoes. She finds none, and takes them off of the suspect list.

I'm just now realizing that blogging about a mystery in two blogs will be hard. There are so many little clues I have to explain, and Ingrid doesn't process the clues about the real murderer until the end. I didn't want to give away the ending of this book in my part 1 blog but I think I will have to. The murderer ends up being. Drum role please : Vincent Dunn. When I write the little summaries I will only explain the clues that lead to Vincent being the murderer. So, lets go back to the first clue. When Vincent drives Ingrid home they talk about Vincents acting career. He lists plays he was in, and after a while says "Di-," and then quickly changed the subject. I realized that he was about to say "dial M for Murder," but Ingrid didn't. Also the narrator never talks about what shoes Vincent is wearing even when he is describing his appearance. Clue number two: Vincent asks to stay in the theater overnight and needs a key. This may not seem like much of a clue now, but later on in the story it plays a big part, even though his request for a key is denied. Clue number 3: Ingrid researches the characters from Dial M for Murder and finds a review of a man named David Vardack. David Vardack, Vincent Dunn, see the resemblance? These are all of the clues that I will tell you now. Read the next blog for other clues and how they all fit together.

The beginning of "Down the Rabbit Hole is one of my favorite parts. It is one of the only books I have read where it starts interesting. It is so much fun to read and very suspenseful. My favorite parts always happen when Ingrid is alone at night, like when she snuck into Kate's house. I really wanted to know what would happen. The one thing I didn't like about this book is how obvious the murderer is. I knew it was Vincent the moment he came into the story. Also, he was a very stupid murderer. If I was going to go undercover and change my name I would make it something interesting. I wouldn't just make up a name with my initials switched! I like mysteries better when you think you know the answer and then at the end there is a big explanation about how the murderer is some random person and about how the detective found the answer. The first half of Down the Rabbit Hole is great and I can't wait to read the sequel.

Catching Fire Blog 2

SPOILER ALERT!you may think you want to read this anyway but don't even think about it unless you have read Catching Fire. This blog tells major turning points of the story so for your own safety, DO NOT READ ON!

I finished Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins and it is soooo good, but I HATE the ending. I'll talk about it more later but everyone who has read this book probably knows what I'm talking about. 'Till then, here is my summary. When I left off, Katniss was just thrown into the arena. While she was looking around, she saw lots of water and the only way to get to the cornucopia is by swimming. Her mission is to protect Peeta so when the gong strikes, she swims to the cornucopia. There she forms an alliance with Finnick and Mags, who are both very good swimmers. They grab weapons and rescue Peeta who is stuck on land because he does not know how to swim. After, they run to the jungle and hide. One night, acid rain drives them out of their camp and Mags sacrifices herself to save Katniss. After, they meet up with Johanna Betee and Wiress who are covered in blood from a tremendous blood shower. Wiress is running around in circles saying,"Tick Tock" over and over. That night, Katniss understands it. The arena is like a clock with a different terror in each sector at the same time each day. The kids spend the rest of the time in the arena discovering the different terrors. Meanwhile, they lose Wiress when the ground starts spinning really fast, but Katniss retrieves a wire from him before he dies.

Betee ends up with the wire because he is from the district that makes electronics. He comes up with a plan to blow up some of the remaining tributes which includes blowing up the lake. When they put this plan into action, Katniss and Johanna run to put the wire by the lake but Johanna tackles her and cuts her. Katniss is hurt but she manages to make it back to the lamp post to save Peeta. Betee was hurt and can't do anything about the wire so Katniss takes the wire and plunges it into the force field surrounding the arena. It blows up and she is picked up in a hovercraft with Haymitch and the head game maker in it, but not before Peeta is taken by a hovercraft run by the capitol. This is where things get confusing. Katniss wakes up in bed in a room with Betee. She thinks that she is going to be tortured by the capitol and she runs out of her room. She meets up with Haymitch and the game maker and they explain what happened.

Apparently they were all part of a secret group made to destroy the capitol. All of the other tributes were in it and agreed to risk their lives to save Katniss and Peeta. When Johanna attacked Katniss, she just pulled out the tracking device. Katniss gets really mad until she sees Gale. He says the last line of the book. "Katniss there is no District 12." !!!!!!

How can that sentence not make you go crazy????? I mean, how am I supposed to wait until August for the next book to come out with that information hanging over me! I HATE the ending! What happened to her family? Did Bonnie and Twill make it to district 13? Who died from the revolts? Come on! I cant live like this! Anyway, apart from the ending, Catching Fire is REALLY good. It is just as fun, scary, and even more suspenseful than the other book. I take back what I said in my previous blog about not liking Catching Fire so much. I would say that it's equally awesome with Hunger Games. The beginning is worse but the ending is better. I think that the book is at its best part during the games, and during all of the rebellion parts. Catching Fire is no doubt one of the best books I have ever read and I recommend it for everyone. If you like death or not (even though there is a lot of it) I still recommend this book. I was entirely turned off when I heard it was about a bunch of people who try to kill each other. Most people who know me know I'm not that kind of person, but I loved it anyway. I especially recommend it to people who don't love reading because this book will change your mind. Please comment :P