Blood Will Tell (Point Last Seen #2)

Blood Will Tell by April Henry is the second book in her Point Last Seen mystery series about three teens who volunteer for Portland Search and Rescue.

Nick, Alexis and Ruby are still working toward their hours to become official Search and Rescue (SAR). They can be called to help with a search for a missing person or an evidence search. As long as they maintain their grades, they can leave school to help.

When the body of a woman is found, SAR is called to do an evidence search - basically a line of people crawling shoulder to shoulder looking for clues. They have one hour to meet at the Sheriff's office, but Nick has seen the ambulances and police go by and knows the scene is only a few blocks from home so he meets them there.

When the police find partial DNA on the body, Nick become a suspect. Alexis and Ruby know he did not do it. But the police see his drawings, video games and a large knife as signs of his guilt. Can his friends prove it wasn't him?

Henry has created a great, fast-paced mystery series with an interesting setting. The series reminds me of a young adult version of the Anna Pigeon books by Nevada Barr - set in National Parks where the setting is one of the characters.

Henry, April. (2015). Blood Will Tell. New York: Henry Hold and Company.

The Body in the Woods (Point Last Seen #1)

The Body in the Wood by April Henry is the first mystery in her Point Last Seen series about three teens in a Search and Rescue team in Portland, Oregon.

When a man goes missing in the giant Forest Park, texts go out to the SAR - Portland County Search and Rescue - to form a group to find him. Trainees Alexis, Nick, and Ruby are excused from high school to help. Due to a mistake they are assigned to the same search group - usually new members are broken up with more seasoned searchers.

Alexis joined SAR to bulk up her college applications. She needs a scholarship to be able to attend and hiking sounded like a good way to do it. She has become friends with one of the other new searchers, Ruby, but usually keeps people at bay so they do not find out too much about her.

Nick joined SAR because he wants to be a hero like his dad. His father was killed in Iraq but saved others in the act and though Nick doesn't remember him, he wants to emulate him. He takes search and rescue seriously and as a first step in becoming the man he wants to be.

Ruby loves the outdoors. And SAR is the first time she feels like she fits in. Other kids her age don't like the stuff she likes and she is socially awkward. Just as she thought she was becoming best friends with Alexis, she started to pull away.

Now all three of them are searching together. They are assigned a part of the park where the missing man is not likely to be so they are treating the search much like a training. But when Alexis notices someone in the bushes, everything changes. She has found a young woman, likely around her age, who appears to be dead.

Henry has created three likable but flawed characters who have joined an exciting team. Along with the search and rescue, the three will do what they can to find out who killed the woman in the woods - even if the police think they have the murderer. Great start to an exciting new YA series.

Henry, April. (2014). The Body in the Woods. New York: Christy Ottaviano Books.

Girl, Stolen

Girl, Stolen by April Henry is a story of accidental kidnapping.

How do you accidentally kidnap someone? When Griffin saw the keys left in the new Cadillac Escalade he thought it was his lucky day.

For Cheyenne Wilder it feels like one of the unluckiest days of her life. She was waiting in the back of the car while her stepmother went into the drug store to pick up antibiotics. Cheyenne begged her to leave the keys so she could stay warm.

When Griffin found out that Cheyenne was in the car he figured he was in big trouble. She looked right at him. He would now have to take her home. The good luck that was going to get his dad to admit that he was finally a man just turned into a major mistake that was sure to make his dad very angry. But Cheyenne didn't see Griffin because she is blind.

Still, instead of dropping her on the side of the road to be rescued, Griffin panics and takes her home. When his dad finds out that Cheyenne's dad is the president of Nike, he decides to ransom her back. But Griffin is starting to think that he is her only chance at survival. Will his dad let her go and describe what she has overheard - leading the police back to them - or will he just kill her and bury her in the woods?

Henry has written another knuckle-biting young adult novel. Don't be surprised if you are holding your breath while to read this book long into the night.

Henry, April. (2010). Girl, Stolen. New York: Christy Ottaviano Books.

Learning to Fly

Learning to Fly by April Henry is a thriller that will capture readers from the first page.

Free Meeker is the daughter of hippies (obviously). All she has ever wanted was to be normal. When she learned she was pregnant by her cheating boyfriend she decided to get away for a few days.

On her way back to her parents house she picks up a hitchhiker. Though Free doesn't know it, Lydia is running from an abusive husband. Free agrees to drive her to Portland - hours out of her way.

A couple hours from Portland a dust cloud obstruct the highway. After the chaos of a huge pile up where Lydia is killed, Free finds herself in possession of a gym bag full of money. The next morning the newspaper lists Free's name among the dead.

Trying to escape her old life, Free takes the money and Lydia's identity and decides to start over in Portland. But the person who the drug money belongs to will not let nearly one million dollars just walk away. And Lydia's husband will not sit back and be humiliated as his wife tries to escape from him. Who will find Free first?

Henry, April. (2002). Learning to Fly. New York: Thomas Dunne Books.

Shock Point

Shock Point by April Henry is a mystery about a girl who knows too much.

Cassie Streng has just moved to Portland, Oregon with her mother and her new stepfather, Rick. Rick is a psychiatrist involved in a drug trial for a new teen drug to modify behavior.

But Cassie soon finds out that three of her classmates, all of whom committed suicide, were his patients. They were all on the experimental drug. And her family moved right after the last death.

She has to do something to stop more kids from dying. But before she can say anything about it, a white van shows up and kidnaps her. Her stepfather has convinced her mother to send her to a school for troubled kids. He claims he found drugs in her room.

Only the school is not a school - it is a prison. It is in Mexico where the laws are more fluid. She has to find a way to escape, find her way back to Oregon, and stop the drug trials.

Henry, April. (2006). Shock Point. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.