The Things You Find in Rock Pools by Greg Dunnett is quite the murder mystery. The main character, Billy, reminds me of Christopher, the autistic narrator from The curious incident of the dog in the night time. Billy, a 12-year old, is inquisitive, intelligent about his passions and funny at times too. Despite the young narrator, I definitely do not recommend this for young adult readers!
Billy decides to solve the mystery when a young female is killed while vacationing in his beach town. His first suspect proves innocent, and then signs begin pointing to his dad as the murderer. We discover that Billy and his dad are considered missing people and that his dad is wanted for murder. They go into hiding until ultimately the truth about everything is revealed. Also, the story switches back and forth between Billy’s and the investigating officers’ perspectives.
Most chapters closed with a cliffhanger so that I just had to keep reading. And the twists!! I was constantly changing my mind about whether a character was guilty or not. Well-crafted! And now I must switch gears to some young adult literature for a while.
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