Review of Reality Check by Peter Abrahams

This is the latest book by the author of the Echo Falls mystery series, as well as a number of adult mysteries too graphic for me to read.  He also wrote the wonderful mystery Dog On It, under the pen name Spencer Quinn, a very funny story told first person by a sometimes goofy, sometimes dangerous dog named Chet.  Reality Check is not quite as engaging as any of these, but it’s still a pretty good read.  The main character is Cody, a sort of average high school quarterback whose girlfriend Clea is much cleverer, much richer, and destined for much greater things.  When Clea’s father forces her to attend a posh boarding school in Vermont to bolster her chances of getting into an Ivy League School, Cody breaks up with her.  Things go from bad to worse for him when he suffers a knee injury that might mean the end of his dreams of playing college and maybe professional football.  Since Clea and football were the only good things in his life, he doesn’t see much point in staying in school, so he drops out and takes a job delivering lumber.  So you’re probably wondering, where’s the mystery?  I personally liked the long set-up of this book, but I have heard people complain about it.  Here it comes…Clea goes missing from her fancy school.  Cody heads immediately (and without any idea of what his plan is) to Vermont to find her.  Everyone assumes that Cody is from the local high school when he joins the search, and he tries to keep his former relationship with Clea to himself, until the local cop needles him into taking a swing at him, then uses that offense to blackmail him into spying for him.  The cop gets him a job and living quarters at the school stable where Clea’s horse is kept.  Cody gets to know some of the students at the school, and Clea’s words from the last letter she wrote keep haunting him, “It’s hard to know who to trust sometimes.”  There is a tie-in with gambling, and some nice references to recent financial events.  The ending felt rushed to me, especially the final wrap-up.  Don’t let that keep you from reading it, though.  Review by Stacy Church