Copycat

Gr 8 Up—Addison is a huge fan of the reclusive author R.J. Rosen and runs a blog that has become almost as popular as Rosen's "Gap Lake" series of teen mysteries. When the author contacts Addie and asks her to share parts of his next book on her blog, she is thrilled until she stumbles upon the dead body of a classmate late that night at her high school and the crime scene is similar to the one from Rosen's story. It's a dream come true to work with an idol, but the dream quickly becomes a nightmare when a copycat killer stalks Addie online and in person. Italics are confusing and overused without pattern or consistency. The extensive use of dialogue and easy-to-digest inner monologues make this a fast read. Even though the plot has more holes than mature readers might easily accept and bogs down at times, leaving even murder mystery fans waiting for something substantial to happen, readers will, soon after the first murder, feel compelled to continue the story to find out the killer's identity. However, some of the plot development has coincidences used only to advance the mystery. Continuity issues and implausible red herrings will not impress experienced mystery fans. The mature language and sexual innuendo makes this more appropriate for older readers.