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    Behind the Curtain: An Empire Falls Mystery
    Behind the Curtain: An Empire Falls Mystery
    Behind the Curtain: An Empire Falls Mystery
    Audiobook7 hours

    Behind the Curtain: An Empire Falls Mystery

    Written by Peter Abrahams

    Narrated by Colleen Delany

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    ""A terrific yarn, full of smart detection and hip good humor"" (Stephen King)

    Behind the Curtain is the second book in the Echo Falls mystery series by bestselling crime novelist Peter Abrahams, following the acclaimed Down the Rabbit Hole. Perfect for middle school readers looking for a good mystery.

    In this ""deliciously plotted, highly satisfying adventure"" (Kirkus), the Sherlock Holmes-loving eight-grade heroine, Ingrid, starts to see some alarming signs of trouble in her home. Her dad is surfing the internet in search of a job when Ingrid had no idea his job was in jeopardy. Her brother, Ty, is trying to succeed on the high school football team—perhaps at the cost of his health. And Ingrid's beloved soccer coach is replaced by an icy newcomer who seems a little too savvy to be in it for the postgame pizza.

    True to her hero, Sherlock Holmes, Ingrid begins fishing around to find out who's really pulling the strings in her hometown of Echo Falls. But one morning, while en route to the dreaded MathFest, Ingrid is kidnapped and locked in the trunk of a car. Even if she escapes, will anyone believe her story?

    The third and final book in this Edgar Award-nominated series is Into the Dark.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMay 23, 2006
    ISBN9780061135156
    Behind the Curtain: An Empire Falls Mystery
    Author

    Peter Abrahams

    Peter Abrahams is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-five books, including the Edgar Award-winning Reality Check, Bullet Point, and the Echo Falls series for middle graders. Writing as Spencer Quinn, he is also the author of the Chet and Bernie series—Dog on It, Thereby Hangs a Tail, and To Fetch a Thief. He and his wife live in Massachusetts with their dog, Audrey.

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    Reviews for Behind the Curtain

    3.5/5

    138 ratings11 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I am a fan of Colleen Delaney. Great narration and story
    • 5/5
      Amazing sequel to "Down the Rabbit Hole"! Ingrid is back, and this time, she has to figure out if her brother's increased muscle, rage and pimples on his back are due to playing more football or something more... sinister. Great for adults, too.
    • 3/5
      Thirteen year-old Ingrid has noticed a sudden change in her fourteen year-old brother; mainly that he's now benching two hundred pounds and hanging out with an older loser who has more money than he should. Ingrid's dad is different too since his boss hired a new employee who is overly aggressive and spouts the motto, "Whatever It Takes." And someone is filing complaints with the city to try and have her grandfather's farm taken from him. Since Ingrid takes most of her advice from Sherlock Holmes, her nosiness is noticed quickly and makes her a target for a kidnapping attempt, but no one, including the police chief, believes her, so she has to solve all the family mysteries herself.This is the second "Echo Falls Mystery", after Down the Rabbit Hole, which I read last year. I liked that one better- it was more everything. Fun, more tense as it began with a murder , more convincingly in the voice of a young but intelligent girl (the author is male and looks to be mid-50's). While I still like Ingrid here, the author seemed to write in his own tastes for hers: she loves the 40's Sherlock Holmes movies, the 60's version of "The Producers", "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", drinks Fresca? It was a little weird. I'll continue the series as it's a a good story to relax with.
    • 4/5
      Synopsis: Ingrid becomes suspicious when mysterious things start happening at Echo Falls. There's her brother Ty, who has started become very moody and developed pimples down his back. Her Dad, who she sees on a job hunting website. Her new soccer coach who knocks the old coach unconscious. And her grandfather who is being pressured to sell his property. Ingrid decides to investigate.My Opinion: A quick and easy read that encouraged the reader to also put on their detective shoes.
    • 3/5
      I found really captivating
    • 3/5
      Peter Abrahams' Behind the Curtain draws a descriptive story line with numerous events, however some of the events are not exactly done in excruciating detail.The story starts out with the main character Ingrid Levin-Hill sitting in math class. Ms.Groome, the math teacher, volunteers Ingrid to go to a math competition called MathFest. Indeed Ingrid had no intention of showing up, it just so happened that she woke up late and missed it. Fortunately for Ingrid, MathFest rescheduled. The second time around, Ingrid once again did not show up. Once again, she was unable to attend due to unavoidable circumstances - she was kidnapped! Ingrid escaped the kidnapping scene owing to her an important aspect of her personality: perseverance. It becomes an important theme that appears throughout the entire story. For example, Ingrid was taped up with duct tape, and locked in a small space. She had been expecting to be murdered. She began to feel around the space she had, and upon noticing that the floor was carpeted, she remembered that that was how Sherlock Holmes described the trunk of a car. Eventually she figured out that she was stuck in the trunk of a car, and there was a lock mechanism that could get her out. She was impatient in finding the mechanism, but she preserved and kept feeling for it. At last, she found the lock mechanism, and fell out of the trunk. While Ingrid was rolling down the hill, she was able to take the duct tape off, leaving it on the hill.Ingrid ran as fast as she possibly could to MathFest,but by the time she got there, it was over. Ms.Groome did not believe Ingrid's recount of her kidnap. This was because she knew that Ingrid did not want to go to MathFest, and thought that she was using this kidnap story as an excuse for her disappearance. Ingrid returned to the hill to find the duct tape only to find that the evidence mysteriously disappeared. Ingrid persevered to find the missing evidence, and then strove to string all the evidence together, proving that she was really kidnapped.In the end, her perseverance did help her, as she overcame her obstacles. The ending will remain unspoiled but I assure you that the time it takes to read Behind the Curtain would be well spent.I do not advise readers to spend their precious time to read this book. The story moves at an unbearably slow pace, which produces a mundane effect. Should readers prefer to invest their time reading this book, I would recommend them to read the prequel, Down the Rabbit Hole, before attempting to start this story. This is due to the fact that there are some details referred to in Behind the Curtain from the prequel.
    • 4/5
      Ingrid really needs a cell phone - she's forever in harm's way Her parents pretty much never know where she is and what she is up to. After she is kidnapped (and no one believes her!), Ingrid takes things into her own hands to try to unravel the mysteries. A fun ride.
    • 4/5
      Behind The Curtain An Echo Falls Mystery by, Peter Abrahams.This was a really cute book,the heroine's name is Ingrid and she is in Middle School.Her favorite books to read are Sherlock Holmes.She's already solved one crime in her town but this time the criminals are making it look like she is making the whole thing up so she sets out to clear her name, and save her dad's job.Very well written 4 Stars.
    • 5/5
      I liked this book, but I had no time to read it. It was kind of hard to get into it after a few days. I really like this series though. I'm really excited to read the next one.
    • 3/5
      I read this because I loved the first book in the series. This book is good too...but not as good as the first.
    • 4/5
      2nd in the Echo Falls series. All the elements are the same: engaging characters, Ingrid's emulation of Holmes, spot-on dialog, and the whole Echo Falls gang. New mystery though, and still pretty easy to figure out, but fans will keep reading.