Description
A missing father. A drowned town. A buried secret. Three friends on a dangerous mission to uncover the truth.
Seven years after Old Scarborough was drowned, a house is emerging from the water. Will and his friends Dar and Juno dare each other to explore it.
But when they find bones - and a stash of cash - they realise they're not the only ones interested in its secrets.
Now they're fighting for their lives against the men who want what they found. Will can't leave the mystery alone, though. What if the bones belong to his missing dad?
A dangerous journey to uncover the truth in a town that wants the past to stay buried.
From the bestselling Australian author of Two Wolves, The Fall, Detention and Cop & Robber.
Review
Told from the perspective of 12-year-old Will comes an amazing mystery.
Set in Scarborough, where the old town is now buried at the bottom of the lake that was built seven years earlier to supply the area with water. The new town consists of mostly relocated houses, and the town is slowly dying through a lack of opportunities.
Will’s Dad was a policeman who disappeared during the building of the dam, along with eight others who are now referred to as “the Scarborough Nine”.
Was foul play at hand, or did he take off? His Mum certainly doesn’t give Will much information to know either way.
Will, together with his best mates Dar and J, decides to swim out to the scary old house in the lake. The house is slowly being uncovered due to the hole in the dam wall that is quickly draining the lake and exposing what lies beneath. But never in their wildest dreams could they have imagined what they would find...
This begins a chain of events that sees the trio fighting for their lives, and uncovering the true murderous history of Scarborough and those close to them who might be guilty of terrible things.
This is an intense mystery that sees a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds punching way above their weight to uncover huge secrets. While it is certainly a suitable read for upper primary students and those in lower secondary, I have decided to include this in our more popular Secondary package to give this wonderful book exposure to the most secondary schools, and to allow primary schools to decide whetheror not to order it for their collection.
Teacher Notes prepared by the publisher are available on our website for this title.
Reviewed by Rob
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