Down the Rabbit Hole (An Echo Falls Mystery)

by Peter Abrahams

Book Overview

"My all-time favorite. Astonishing." (Stephen King)Down the Rabbit Hole is the first book in the Echo Falls mystery series by bestselling crime novelist Peter Abrahams. Perfect for middle school... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060737034
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 1.1" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

Happiness, Essence Of

I resisted reading DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE as long as I could, even though Peter Abrahams is my favorite suspense writer, probably because, well, the jacket said the book was written for kids, and i'm no kid and I don't even like much children's literature. But once I actually started in on the life of Ingrid Levin-Hill it reminded me not so much of Veronica Mars, as others have stated (as though Abrahams was copying the TV formula! As though he hadn't thought of this series eons before Kristen Bell ever made her appearance on the scene!)--it reminded me actually of an extension, and a natural one at that, of Abrahams' masterpiece THE TUTOR, in which pretty much the same family dynamics were played out, and in which a madly clever young girl played Sherlock Holmes and saved her whole family from ruin. Besides, Veronica Mars is perky-cute while Ingrid is anything but. She's the kind of girl who shrugs off her own looks, and the boys tend to overlook in favor of the cheerleader or sexpot types. However, in her own way she's attractive, and by the end of chapter two or three the reader falls in love a little too. She's spunky, and some of us have a high tolerance for spunk. One gets the feeling she's terribly alone, and that Echo Falls is too small a town for her. The only man she meets who's anywhere on her level is her director in the community production of ALICE IN WONDERLAND, the eccentric, erudite hometown genius Vincent Dunn, and like another reviewer mentioned, you don't have to be an Einstein to figure out who's the evil genius behind the crime wave baffling the Echo Falls cop squad. I wonder why Abrahams made the guilty culprit so easy to identify? Maybe he didn't trust his readership enough to throw another boomerang at them, but a little of the old "least likely suspect" thing would have added another star, if possible, to my rave review for DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE. I've just ordered the sequel, BEHIND THE CURTAIN, quivering with the delicate feeling one always has when anticipating the followup to a book one ate up like pixy stix. I wonder if all the books in this series will begin with a preposition like 'down' and 'behind.' Hope so, for why spoil a good thing. If only the little girl, Heather Matarazzo, who played in "Welcome to the Dollhouse" hadn't grown up and got all mature, for she would have been a natural to try to play the incomparable Ingrid Levin-Hill in a series of big screen movies directed perhaps by Robert Rodriguez, in 3-D, but if wishes were horses, then I'd have a new Peter Abrahams novel every month and the poor man would never have a single day of rest.

A Very Intriguing Book

This book was recommended by my librarian, and I recommended it to all my book club fellows. This is a really detailed book. The plot is really unique, and Mr. Abrahams really writes the book step by step. Some parts might be confusing, but this is one of the greatest mysteries I've ever read (Besides the Da Vinci Code) I just thought Peter kind of jammed the ending, since the part where the mystery unfolds is only about 30 pages. The rest is really about her play, herlife, and covering her story about the Red Puma shoes. Beside thos negatives, this is a really great book.

Really Good!

I just loved the book Down The Rabbit Hole! It really fit into a childrens mystery. I couldn't put it down for a second because there was so much suspense! Every page i read i just wanted to keep reading so i could find out what happened next. I really recommend this to anyone who loves mysteries and suspense!

Harriet the Spy meets Sherlock Holmes

In Echo Falls, thirteen -year-old Ingrid Levin-Hill idolizes Sherlock Holmes for his ability to see the obvious, which mostly people miss, but is proud of being named as Alice in a local production of Wonderland. However, Ingrid has a new role as life imitates art when someone murders "Cracked-Up Katie" just after the unfortunate victim was visited by the teen sleuth as she rushed from her orthodontist to soccer practice. When the newspaper report the murder, Ingrid worries that the cops will pin the rap on her since she left her soccer cleats at the crime scene. She decides to sneak into the house to reclaim her sneakers. Meanwhile, the police chief wants to interrogate Ingrid on her soccer cleats even as she is beginning to like her adversary's son. Still Ingrid realizes she has to be better than Holmes if she is to get the top cop and a killer off her back. Sort of like of Harriet the Spy meets Sherlock Holmes; DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE is a terrific young adult amateur sleuth tale. The story line is fast-paced and loaded with action and plenty of twists as Ingrid tries to solve the case out of fear of lock up. The support cast either enhances her sleuthing, her personality, or her hometown. Though her older much bigger brother got away with sibling violence sending the wrong message to the youthful audience, readers of all ages will appreciate Ingrid Levin Hill, teen detective. Harriet Klausner

Abrahams amazing again!

If you pick up this book make sure you have time to finish it in one sitting because you won't be able to put it down. Like Harry Potter, this is an all-ages work. Abrahams is an amazing talent whose work thrills me every time and now he's writing for a younger audience which means more people can appreciate his books. If I can't convince you, read the jacket comments from Stephen King. Reviews like that aren't just handed out . . . read the book!