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OLDER FICTION
McCall, Guadalupe García

The Keeper

288 pp. | HarperCollins/Harper | January, 2022 | Trade ISBN 978-0-06-307692-1 $16.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-0-06-307694-5 $7.99
(2) YA James, twelve, and his precocious sister Ava, ten, have moved from Texas to Oregon with their parents, and James is bitter about having his entire life uprooted. The siblings struggle to adjust to their new surroundings, amping up a prank war to the extent that they start hurting each other's feelings for real. When the kids begin finding mysterious and threatening letters from "the Keeper" around the house, their parents assume it's all just another prank. James and Ava realize they're going to have to solve the mystery of the letters on their own, and fast, because the Blood Moon is approaching and the Keeper has warned James that he must act before then. James and Ava's Mexican American family dynamic is realistically portrayed, and secondary characters are well drawn, as well. As they investigate their neighbors and the history of their almost-too-idyllic gated community, James and Ava learn that they aren't the first children to be threatened. The story's pace is slow but the mystery is intriguing, and determined readers will be satisfied with the surprising and sinister (involving a cult and human sacrifice) denouement.
Reviewer: Sarah Berman

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