Author: Charlie Price
Pages: 225
Genre: Mystery, Realistic-Fiction
Rating: 4/5 stars
This book is a mystery book with a paranormal spin because high school cheerleader Nikki Parker is kidnapped, and no one knows who did it. Although, Murray Kiefer, who is able to communicate with the deceased, might just figure it out. This story takes place present tense in a small town. Robert Barry Compton does not like living in this town making him depressed and angry. This book tell the story through multiple perspectives by changing to a different character each chapter. We first meet Murray Kiefer he is a high schooler who is very antisocial and he can speak to the dead. Next, you meet Officer Gates who is in charge of finding out who kidnapped Nikki. Lastly, you get to know Robert Barry Compton., Robert witnessed Nikki’s kidnapping, but he is schizophrenic and has a hard time remembering things. Another important character is Officer Billup who is an alcohol addict and he has a strong hate towards Murray. The book starts off in a small town telling the story of each character and how Nikki Parker went missing.While Murray is in the cemetery, he starts to hear a new voice, one he didn’t recognize he starts searching and while doing so, he meets pearl the daughter of the caretaker. At first, Murray wants nothing to do with pearl he thinks she’s a cemetery brat, but he gets to know her and they turn out being close friends, he even told her he speaks to the dead. Pearl quickly became interested and the started finding out where the new voice was coming from. Once they found it, the voice turned out to be Nikki Parker the missing cheerleader. Murray and Pearl decided they should tell officer gates that they think Nikki is buried in the same grave as a man named Craddock. Surprisingly, Craddock was buried the same day Nikki went missing. Officer gates then tracks down the Craddock family. They live in a town called Chico. Nikki's kidnapper turned out to be her cousin, Gary Craddock. Gary Craddock was put in jail with a five hundred thousand dollar bail. The bail was paid and Gary was out of jail. Although Murray and pearl knew the voice was Nikki and that Gary was the one who had kidnapped her, no one ever dug up Craddock's grave to see if Nikki was there. I think that the theme of this book was that you shouldn’t make assumptions. For example, when officer gates first met Billup he thought that Billup kidnapped Nikki because he’s addicted to alcohol and he’s mean, but Billup turned out to be innocent.Also, Murray thought pearl was just a cemetery brat, but she was actually interested in how he could talk to the dead and they became best friends. One thing I really liked about this book was how it told the story from multiple perspectives. While reading you get to put the pieces together on who did it because you get clues from each character. One thing I didn’t like was how you could’ve never guessed it was her cousin. You really only get introduced to the cousin in the last few chapters. Overall, I really liked this book and anyone who likes mysteries and multiple plot twists will like this book. While reading the book my idea on who kidnapped Nikki kept changing because the narrator would make you think someone did it then prove that person innocent like Billup. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Dead Connection.
Contributed by: Savanna Smith
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