HIDE AND SEEK

First-rate suspense with an original premise and an appealing theme support this story about a boy who stumbles upon two kidnapped children and endangers his own life in trying to help them. Fourteen-year-old Chase eagerly bicycles to find his first “geocache” with his new GPS unit in an Internet-based treasure-hunting game, but he finds a note in childish writing in the cache asking for help. Later, bringing food to the site, Chase meets two little boys who appear to be living with their father at a campsite. As he gets to know them, he increasingly feels that something just isn’t right about their situation. When he learns they’re abductees, however, he doesn’t wait for assistance but rushes off to find them, only to become a kidnapping victim himself. Grant neatly weaves Chase’s own family estrangements into his growing understanding of the depths of parental love and other relationships that will have meaning for young readers. Tension mounts throughout the story to keep it galloping along, and characterizations ring true. A good, solid adventure. (Mystery. 8-12)