Closed For The Season

When Logan moves into his new house in Bealesville, (read: Small Town Central) Virginia he has no idea that he's about to become wrapped up in a murder investigation. His annoying and seemingly universally disliked next door neighbor Arthur informs him that his house was the scene of a murder and the story spirals from there.

My major complaint, aside from the tiresome predictability of books like this, is the protagonist, Logan. I'm sure the author was trying to give him flaws, but he comes off as sort of a Gary Stu to me. Sure, he gets in trouble...for admirably sticking by his best friend of one week, the aforementioned unpopular Arthur. Logan is one of those people who does things, even wrong things, for all the right reasons. Give me a break and give the boy some character flaws.

Gary Stu aside, this made for a pleasant and easy October read. I tried to let myself be scared of the image of kudzu vines taking over a creepy old amusement park. I even Googled kudzu vines for reference. I think I was almost nervous at the climax, but I never lost sleep or jumped or anything like that.

All in all, an imperfect but mostly agreeable young adult (juvenile?) mystery, if a bit predictable.