Paperback, ebook

January 6, 2018

by Max Elliot Anderson

Paperback: 300 pages
Publisher: TBCN Inc.
ISBN-13: 978-0938447153

Rod Campbell loved to go tubing with his friends down the lazy river outside of town. They often wondered about Snake Island as they drifted by.

Then, one day Mr. Patterson rushed out in front of the boys as they rode their bikes. People around town said he was a little crazy since he’d come back from the war. Some said his injuries had affected his brain. But Mr. Patterson warned them about the island.

Rod talked his friends into camping out on the island since it was near his grandfather’s farm. If they could last the whole night, then there wouldn’t be anything to be afraid of they reasoned.

On the night of the campout, someone came to the island, dug a hole, and rolled a large piece of carpet in. Then he began covering it up. The boys were terrified when they realized the man digging the hole was Mr. Patterson.

They raced off the island. The next day they learned that the richest man in town was missing. Police suspected murder.

Rod and his friends reported what they saw and Mr. Patterson was accused of the crime. But did he do it? And what did he bury in that hole?

My thoughts (reviewed by Kaeli): SNAKE ISLAND was very slow getting started and dragged a lot at the beginning. I thought the one boy Rod was friends with was very whiny and a big baby, and some of the stuff the boys wanted to do just seemed stupid, but I'm a girl and probably would have a lot more in common with Rod's sister.

Mom assigned me to read this book during my summer school break to keep up reading skills, and it is a good book to read in the summer or dreaming about summer, with camp outs and more. Plus, Rod's grandfather has an island nearby that somehow hobos made it out to and camped out there during those dark days of the depression.

Rumor has it that there might even be buried treasure on the island.

But the night of the big scary camp out the boys go on they witness the scariest man in town burying something--or someone-- and someone is murdered. SCARY.

It was heart pounding once I made it to that part and I had to keep reading to find out what happened. Did Mr. Patterson kill someone? If not, who did and what did Mr. Patterson bury? This book will definitely appeal to boys (probably more than girls) and .will be great for the male tween reluctant reader in your life.

I was given a copy free. All opinions are my own.