Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

My friend Andrea picked Book Scavenger for book club once upon a time, and hey, look at me–I’m still playing catch-up!  (At least I’m playing it more successfully than I once was, right?)  I finished it yesterday on the elliptical, thanks to audiobooks, and I’ve been trying to place exactly how I feel about it ever since.

On the one hand, it’s sort of about the Willy Wonka of book publishing, so what’s not to love, right?  He’s already launched one book hunting/reading/hiding game that’s popular on an international level, and he’s about to launch a new game when he’s attacked in a BART station (which apparently stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit and is San Francisco’s version of a subway).  The book he was going to use to launch said game is found by Emily Crane, who has just moved to SF as part of her family’s quest to live in all of the 50 states.  Emily is elated and determined to play the game through to its conclusion; she and her new friend James are soon travelling around San Francisco, looking for clues.  Can they finish the game before the various people looking for the book Emily found catch up with them?

On the other hand, while it’s definitely intermediate fiction, it’s also a mystery–and more of a thriller than a cozy, which is my preference.  At 343 pages, Book Scavenger is long enough to have plenty of characterization, but I felt like a decent portion of that potential was sacrificed for the sake of ciphers and codes.  The city of San Francisco probably got as much characterization as anyone but Emily, although that was likely intentional; it was as much of a character as some of the people in the story were.  (I likely would have enjoyed that if it had been an east coast city, but I’m not all that familiar with San Francisco.)

Ultimately?  Book Scavenger is a fun enough read for book lovers that I’m going to finish out the trilogy; its truest audience, however, is going to be mystery and code lovers.  Emily and James (and Matthew!) are a nice team, however, and that dynamic is a definite plus.  I’m looking forward to seeing where Jennifer Chambliss Bertman takes it.