Blood Will Tell

Gr 6 Up—Weeks following the events of The Body in the Woods (Holt, 2014), Alexis, Nick, and Ruby are still finding worth and friendship volunteering for the Portland Search and Rescue Team. They are called in to look for clues when a young woman is found murdered in a vacant lot in Nick's neighborhood. The Portland police are convinced that Nick is the prime suspect. Ruby and Alexis must find a way to hide their friend until they can find the real killer and clear Nick's name. However, the evidence points to either Nick or his brother as the killer. He is longer sure whom he can trust and whether he is prepared to face some very harsh truths. Similar to the previous volume, this work is a character-driven procedural, but this time most of the focus is on Nick and his situation. Alexis and Ruby only getting tertiary attention and development. And unfortunately, Detective Harriman and the Portland Police Department are contrived and one-dimensional, coming off as narrow-minded when they settle immediately and unwaveringly on an easy solution without exploring other possibilities. Once Nick becomes a suspect, the pace picks up considerably, but it is too slow in the previous chapters. Readers more interested in action-packed thrillers may have given up by then.