SHELTER

TITLE: SHELTER

AUTHOR: HARLAN COBEN

Date: 08/03/2012

Grade: 4

Details: no. 1 Mickey Bolitar

            Young-Adult

            Audio / 7 CD’s / 7.73 Hours /

            Narrated by Eric Meyers

Library

Mickey Bolitar is going through a horrible time in is young life. He witnessed his father’s death in a car crash, saw how his mother, unable to cope with the grieve became a junkie and now finds himself living with his estranged uncle, Myron.

Joining a new high school should be the least of Mickey’s worries but it is still a scary occasion, made easier by Ashley. She is a beautiful girl, also new to the school and before long Mickey and Ashley are close.

And then, after just a few weeks in school, Ashley disappears without a word and without a trace.

Devastated to have lost yet another person he felt close to, Mickey decides to try and find Ashley unaware that she was not the squeaky clean girl she appeared to be and that following her trail will lead him into dangerous territory.

Of course, there is also Bat-lady, the old woman living a secluded life in the neighbourhood who shouts out at Mickey one morning that his father is still alive. Although he knows better, Mickey can’t help hoping and has to know what the woman meant.

Two investigations for Mickey both involving people close to his heart. 

Two cases that may well be connected.

Several shocking revelations to follow.

The character Mickey Bolitar was introduced in Live Wire, a book in the Myron Bolitar series. At the time I wrote that the book felt a bit like a vehicle to introduce Mickey and that I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

When I started this book I was a bit afraid that the opposite might happen here. Was this really going to be a book and series about a new character, Mickey, or would it in reality turn out to be more Myron but this time with a much younger side-kick.

I’m very glad to have discovered that this is very much a Mickey Bolitar story. Myron features of course, he has to since Mickey is living in his house, but he is very much in the background. In fact he was so much in the background that I couldn’t help wishing for a little bit more of him.

Having said that, there are very obvious similarities between nephew and uncle and at times they even sound exactly the same but that didn’t bother me. In fact, on several occasions those similarities made me smile.

This was an interesting mystery and thrilling story. Yes, I could see some things coming a long time before they were revealed in the book, but this is a book for teenagers, and besides, there were quite a few things I could never have predicted.

I liked the way the friendships Mickey makes were described and I love the idea of the group of friends he ends up with, even if I’m not sure how realistic that grouping actually is.

Overall I enjoyed listening to this story, liked the characters in it and found myself caught up in the story. And I know I will read or listen to the sequel as soon as it comes out because to say that this book ended on a bombshell and cliff-hanger would be the understatement of the year.