Available:*
Library | Material Type | Item Barcode | Shelf Number | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library | Juvenile Fiction Book Hardback | 120703448891015 | YHBA 1990 J NIX | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Liz enjoys her summer pool job at the glamorous Ridley Hotel. Until the night, a dark and lonely night, a ghasty shadow surges up from the pool. A face -- eyes wide, mouth gaping -- stares at Liz. A hand clutches at her sneaker. Then it, whatever it is, is gone. But danger isn't. Strange things are happening at the hotel, and a shaken Liz wants to know why. But whoever is behind the trouble will stop at nothing -- even murder -- to get what he wants... "From the Paperback edition."
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6-10 Sixteen-year-old Mary Elizabeth takes a summer job as a pool attendant at a fancy hotel health club. Guests' wallets are stolen, expensive furniture disap pears, and two murders take place. The Miami Syndicate is implicated. Francis, a fellow employee, joins her in her detective work, and the two teenagers make all the adults look incompetent and slow. Mary Elizabeth is staying alone at home while her parents are away, and she never re veals the dangerous situation during her mother's daily phone calls, which is unre alistic and contrived in view of the family closeness. After the initial terrifying scene in the pool, the pace slackens somewhat. Many suspects appear, but readers may find it difficult to sort them out. Some im portant details are hard to picturesuch as a semi-fake plant by the pool in which money is hidden and the security system used to check the identification of guests. The romance between Mary Elizabeth and Fran will appeal to readers, but they may wonder why Mary Elizabeth trusted him so quickly in view of all of the sinister events taking place. However, there is lots of action and a sympathetic heroine to compensate. Judy Greenfield, Rye Free Reading Room, N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Mary Elizabeth's summer job at the health club of a ritzy hotel would be just about perfectexcept for a series of eerie incidents that occur when she is alone by the pool at night. Convinced they are related to a series of robberies plaguing the hotel and its guests, she tries to figure out the linka mission of increasing urgency once she discovers a corpse in the pool. By the end of the story, Mary Elizabeth has exposed a circle of thieves headed by her own boss, a group said to have links to organized crime. This is a moderately suspenseful mystery, rounded out with touches of humor and romance, but not one of Nixon's best. There are too many glitches in the complicated plot for it to be fully convincing. The protagonist's foolhardy ingenuousness strains credibility: she discusses events related to the case freely, even after it seems likely an insider is involved. The relationship between the thefts and the syndicate is never really clear, and the revelation that drug deals are somehow involvedwhich would justify the otherwise inexplicable violenceis tacked-on, vague and ultimately unpersuasive. Ages 12-up. (November) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
The thefts from the posh Houston hotel where narrator Mary Elizabeth has her first summer job seem unrelated at first--how could the pickpocket, the purloiner of two ten-foot sofas, and the person snitching meat from the kitchen be the same? But, with the help of new friend Fran (whose only drawback is that he's four inches shorter than Mary Elizabeth), clues are cleverly assembled--and less cleverly communicated to characters whom the reader will suspect before the overtrusting heroine does. Meanwhile, two murders heighten the tension; and the obligatory near-murder of the amateur girl sleuth and resolution of the mystery are quickly followed by Mary Elizabeth's realization that being taller than a boy is not the worst thing. Patterned, predictable, and not always plausible (the police are ingenuously ready to confide the progress of their case to a 16-year-old), this is not the popular author's best, yet it reads smoothly and is adequate as light suspense fiction. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Responsible for closing up the swanky health club pool each night, Mary Elizabeth Rafferty is terrified when she spots an unauthorized swimmer in the dark water. Though the security chief chalks it up to a case of teenage nerves, Mary Elizabeth is convinced there is something strange going on, especially when she discovers the appearance of the intruder is but one of a series of bizarre things happening at the hotel/health club complex. Nixon has done a good job of individualizing a large cast of characters and suspects from strange Mr. Kamara, who ends up being murdered, and busybody Mrs. Bandini, convinced that tall, lanky Mary Elizabeth is the right girl for her grandson, to friendly but short Francis (Fran) Liverpool, whose persistence finally wins Mary Elizabeth's favor (``When we're sitting down our bodies are the same height,'' he hopefully points out). Suspense and plot twists are ample as usual in Nixon's escapist fare. What raises this a bit above the norm, however, are its refreshingly humorous underpinnings. Gr. 7-12. SZ. Mystery and detective stories [CIP] 87-6723