The Body in the Woods, by April Henry

I was excited to read this OBOB book, as I have recommended April Henry books to a lot of kids but never read one myself? How can I do that, you ask? When enough kids check out and read the same author over a period of time, I know the author must have something good going on, and Henry has that "something", from all the check-outs her books get. So being an OBOB book was a perfect reason to try one for myself!

I was not disappointed, for the most part - a good murder mystery, set in my once-hometown of Portland, OR, with many places I remember, which always makes a book more fun - a movie, too, for that matter! Who doesn't like reading a book where the characters visit places you, as the reader, have also visited? Fun, right? So Body takes place in Portland, and is a good whodunit, for the most part. What stops it from getting 5 paws is that there are two or three places in the story where 1. The turn in the story seemed written to satisfy where Henry needed the story to go for the bigger story to continue, and 2. I think I predicted all of the turns before they happened, something I am not very good at, which made it a little bit of a let down. Not a big one - overall, this was a sold murder story! But not a 5 paw book...but a 4 paw book! I would probably try another of her books, but not right away...I need to wait a while and hope the next read is a little less obvious in these ways.

If you like murder mysteries, you'll probably dig this! If you like murder mysteries with a bit more to think about, try Katie Alender - Famous Last Words is awesome!