Author: Rick Polito
Publisher: Wolfpack Publishing

From the author of Off Trail comes a hilarious mystery about what happens when a chilling trip leads to a lost fortune.

Nate and Lily knew their mother was different. All it took was a hunch or a bad feeling and the family would be uprooted and moving to a different apartment or even a different town. But when the two are torn out of their life in the ritzy North Bay for the summer and dropped in "the Mississippi of California" on the Sacramento River Delta, Nate Caldwell and his sister Lily see it as one more move in a series of lurching disruptions driven by their mother's suspicion that something or someone is after them.

When they settle into life around their uncle's House of Illusion roadside attraction, Nate meets Mia—who makes all the girls he knew in the North Bay seem shallow and dull—and begins to connect with local teens who couldn't be more different than the privileged classmates he left behind. 

It's not until they learn that the story behind the attraction is more than just a tale for the tourists, that Nate begins to figure out what drove his mother's suspicious nature.

Here’s a novel with all the elements of a thriller, from hulking, slow-witted antagonists who believe in conspiracy theories, to an abduction, car chases and a teen dragnet op. There’s also a would-be psychic, a legend of lost treasure and a carnival-style house of mirrors-plus.

The plot is on the corny side, the bad guys are a bit cardboard and there’s no real violence, so it’s best to call it “thriller lite.” But where this novel really shines is the witty humor and crisp, fun writing, especially the male protagonist’s strong, captivating voice and the snappy dialogue.

Compared to the string of Bay Area zip codes I’d grown up in, the Delta could have been nineteenth century Alabama. The face that I was willingly swan-diving into the social swirl of cropped-sleeve T-shirts and cheap beer was a sign of how desperately bored I was.

“If you’re a transfer student, school ended last week. If you’re a tourist, you’re lost, and maybe we should fire off a flare or something to help the search party.”

I always had this vision of an abandoned amusement park as being spooky – or at least creepy, and this place was just sad. It looked like a public service announcement for tetanus shots.

The teen antics and emotions feel authentic, and Nate’s relationship with his younger sister is well drawn. Better yet, a tentative romance adds spice and the small-town vs. city personalities supply the main tension.

Unfortunately, the climax is largely predictable and too drawn-out, but again, teens will love this book for the smart-aleck humor, and will easily forgive, if not embrace, the corniness that scaffolds the winning writing. No surprise that the author is an occasional standup comic.

- Pam Withers