Useless Bay

Gr 9 Up—Family secrets and hidden connections drive this exciting, slightly uneven offering. When Grant, the son of a wealthy businessman, goes missing on Washington's Whitby Island, the family calls on the Gray quintuplets to track him down. The strong and fearless siblings are connected to the land in an almost mythical way, and they happen to own the state's best detection dog. They've also been known to harbor Grant when he feels like hiding. As soon as the search begins, it's clear that nobody is quite telling the truth. When Grant's older brother Henry and Pixie, the only female Gray sibling, find the body of Henry's stepmother in the bay, the search becomes an investigation and the intensity spikes. Atmosphere is everything in this book, and Beaufrand paints a lush and loamy natural landscape that mirrors the beauty and the sinister nature of the island's inhabitants and hints at an otherworldly bond Pixie might share with the dead. The action strays off pace at times, and there are a few dialogue holes that might give readers the impression that they have missed something, but the quintuplets' boundless energy and gruesome inquiries always get things back on track.