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Searching... Port Charlotte | Book | YA FIC BARNES | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
A teenage girl, her friends, and their search-and-rescue dogs must uncover long-buried secrets to save a life in this unputdownable mystery from Jennifer Lynn Barnes, #1 bestselling author of The Inheritance Games.
Kira Bennett's earliest memories are of living alone and wild in the woods. She has no idea how long she was on her own or what she had to do to survive, but she remembers the moment that Cady Bennett and one of her search-and-rescue dogs found her. Adopted into the Bennett family, Kira still struggles with human interaction years later, but she excels at the family business: search and rescue. Together with Cady's son, Jude, and their neighbor, Free, Kira works alongside Cady to train the world's most elite search-and-rescue dogs. Someday, all three teenagers hope to put their skills to use, finding the lost and bringing them home.
When Cady's estranged father, the enigmatic Bales Bennett, tracks his daughter down and asks for her help in locating a missing child--one of several visitors who has disappeared in the Sierra Glades National Park in the past twelve months -- the teens find themselves on the front lines sooner than they could have ever expected. As the search through seven hundred and fifty thousand acres of unbridled wilderness intensifies, Kira becomes obsessed with finding the missing child. She knows all too well what it's like to be lost in the wilderness, fighting for survival, alone.
But this case isn't simple. There is more afoot than a single missing girl, and Kira's memories threaten to overwhelm her at every turn. As the danger mounts and long-held family secrets come to light, Kira is forced to question everything she thought she knew about her adopted family, her true nature, and her past.
** For more thrilling mysteries by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, check out Little White Lies, Deadly Little Scandals, and The Naturals and The Inheritance Games series!
Reviews (3)
Horn Book Review
Kira enjoys helping her foster mom, Cady, train dogs for search-and-rescue operations. But this work becomes deeply personal when Cady's estranged father shows up, begging the two to help find a girl who's gone missing, in a case that may connect with Kira's own story. A tense mystery plot and strongly drawn setting help compensate for underdeveloped supporting characters. (c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A young woman revisits her own traumatic past when she helps search for a missing little girl in this psychological thriller.Kira has lived with her caring foster mom, Cady, a rescue dog trainer, and her goofy foster brother, Jude, since she was found in the woods as a child. She's developed close relationships with both of them and with their spirited neighbor, Free, though in many ways it's the dogs they train to whom she feels the strongest kinship. Her world is shaken to its core, however, when Cady's long-estranged father, Bales, suddenly appears and they get pulled into the search effort in Sierra Glades National Park, which borders Cady's hometown. Kira's first-person narration will grip readers as she experiences troubling flashbacks to her own long-ago ordeal that progressively ratchet the tension of this mystery up as it unfolds. Leisurely paced, the slow build allows for the introduction of an array of somewhat unevenly developed characters, including a teen named Gabriel who lives with Bales, has been in legal trouble, and whose own family history is mired in secrets. The penultimate denouement will likely take readers by surprise as the plot detours into an unpredictable twist. All main characters are assumed white except for Gabriel, who is Latinx.An engaging, clever, suspenseful story in which readersespecially dog-loving teenswill easily lose themselves. (Thriller. 12-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Kira has few memories of her early life. The strongest one is of the moment she was found in the woods by Silver, a search-and-rescue German shepherd, and Cady Bennett, her handler. Though aging, Silver still looks out for Kira, now a teenager living with Cady and the rest of her adopted family and training a dog of her own. Then Cady's estranged father shows up: a girl has gone missing in the wilderness, and he needs help. As the search intensifies, it becomes clear that the girl is not just missing, she was taken and if Kira is going to be any help at all, she'll have to control the traumatic memories this search is unearthing for her. Barnes smartly maps the psychological landscape of a girl working through her early-life trauma, which makes this mystery, seen through Kira's eyes, layered and compelling. The wilderness survival component ups the stakes, and for animal-loving teens, the dogs add an intriguing and little-seen element. A moody, gripping puzzle.--Maggie Reagan Copyright 2019 Booklist
