The Five Things
Beth Merwood
288 pages
Published May 3rd, 2021 by The Wild Rose Press
About the Book:
For nine-year-old Wendy, the summer of 1969 will never be forgotten.
Local kids have always told stories about the eerie wood on the outskirts of the village, and Wendy knows for sure that some of them are true. Now the school holidays have started and she’s going to the wood again with Anna and Sam, but they soon become convinced that someone is trying to frighten them off.
When a terrible event rocks the coastal community, the young friends can’t help thinking there must be a connection between the incident, the tales they’ve heard, and the strange happenings they’ve begun to witness. As glimpses of a darker world threaten their carefree existence, they feel compelled to search out the underlying truth.
My Review:
This mystery is told from the perspective of a 9 year old child. It took me a while to get comfortable with the narrative and the language used. The sentence structure is overly simplified and as it was an older main character remembering back to her 9 year old-self, the lack of adult narration was a bit jarring for me.
The mystery is from a 9 year old’s point of view again. The story reminded me a bit of a Nancy Drew type of book. Characters are friendly and nice to each other and the children work together to unravel the curious mystery that they stumble on to.
To me, it feels like this should be marketed to a YA-Middle School reading age. I think it may have great success there.
About the Author:
Beth Merwood is from the south of England. The Five Things is her debut novel.
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