Early Reader Review: What We Saw by Mary Downing Hahn

Source: From the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.

What We Saw by Mary Downing Hahn 

Publisher: Clarion Books
Publication Date:  September 6, 2022

 

Format: Hardback


Rating:


Goodreads Synopsis: 

A chilling murder mystery lies at the heart of this page-turning thriller about a missing teacher, small town secrets, and turbulent tween friendships from master of middle grade horror Mary Downing Hahn.

When best friends Abbi and Skylar witness a clandestine meeting between a mysterious woman and someone in a dark van, they're thrilled. Finally, a mystery to spice up the summer!

Who could these people be? Why are they meeting? Are they spies? Criminals? The two girls are determined to find out. But then a local woman goes missing and is found dead in the woods. And Abbi and Skylar realize that their detective work could hold the keys to solving her murder. Suddenly, sleuthing isn't so fun anymore.

As tensions rise and their friendship frays, the girls find themselves in increasing danger, and must choose between keeping a secret or exposing a life-altering truth.

Review: 

What an interesting middle grade read. I don't really read middle grade thrillers often and this author, from what I understand, writes a lot of them but this was my first. 

The book follows two young girls over the summer looking for some adventure. One is a bit pushy and a little bossy, the other more reserved and mousy. The reserved one, Abbi, has a strict mother so she reacts accordingly when Skylar pushes her outside of her limits. The girls stumble upon an abandoned treehouse and are using it to read when they start to see cars pull up to their spot, a mysterious man and woman are meeting. The something happens and now the girls know more than they should.

Abbi and Skylar are both relatable girls in many ways, but their summer seemed a bit olden days. What i mean is that they were able to go and ride bikes almost to the outskirts of their town without oversight or cellphone 360 tracking etc. I guess some kids still have that experience now. There is a joke about the girls attachment to their phones but it really wasn't all that obvious of an issue other than they were carrying them.

Overall, the plot moved very quickly given the short length of the book. The subject that it dealt with seemed a bit older which contradicted the length and age of the characters. The book talked about affairs, drug dealing, a meth lab, some lingerie, men being creepy, all much older topics. There was just so much here that I also found the plot a little lost at times. I assumed that details would come back into play that didn't and some were never addressed again and it was hard to tell what was relevant to the story. 

The book was a good read. It was a quick read at a little over 200 pages and I think that it will be a fun one for spooky season coming up. If you or your younger reader likes a thriller, this may be a good book to pick up. If you like this author, you might even enjoy it a bit more than I did. It was a good read, just in time for some creepiness.