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Tangled Web
Meet Alex Alex Diaz is the new kid whos been sent to live with her grandparents in Edgewood, where she hides her homesickness from everyone but her new best friend, Morgan. Alex feels judged and out of place, and she responds by judging the other girls. Add a neighbor coming and going at all hours of the night, he and his creepy son become instant targets of suspicion.
140 pages, Paperback
First published June 6, 2000
17 people want to read
About the author
Kristi Holl
67 books16 followersKristi Holl is a best-selling award-winning author of dozens of middle-grade novels. With additional background as an elementary school educator and instructor of writing for children, Kristi's books are on many recommended reading lists and have been nominated for numerous Children's Choice Awards. Kristi has three grown daughters and lives in Texas.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 25, 2021
Tangled Web
Alex Cruz has been living with her grandparent’s half her ninth-grade year but is expecting to go home to Texas any day now because her Dad finally found another job before Christmas. Alex’s Dad we learn is an alcoholic and keeps getting laid off. But Alex is homesick for her trailer in Texas and hates living in Indiana. We see on a chat with the rest of her friend’s she’s been missing swim practice. She also turns down an invite to help her friend’s plan a talent show for some senior citizens. Morgan is staying the night and going to church with Alex in the morning. In the middle of the night they hear a commotion, look out the window, and sees her grandparent’s neighbor “Hutch” and his son in the middle of an argument. His son gets in the car and Hutch jumps on the car to stop him. But he rolls off and falls on the ground. Hutch and Matthew argue over the other staying out late and then Matthew heads back to the house. Alex sees Hutch heading toward the trash cans and suspects that he’s hiding drugs in the trash cans. So she decides to follow him and convinces Morgan to join her. After some blocks she losses him, and it’s freezing and soaked so they head back. They bump into Ryan Thomas (Amber’s brother) who offers them a ride, but they turn it down. Alex finds a stray cat and decides to take it home. She thinks that Hutch will either experiment on it or eat it. But when they get home the door is locked and her grandfather is there non to happy.
Before church, Alex puts out a neighborhood watch alert to see if she can get some information on (and caution the others) about Hutch. Alex gets one of her grandmother’s poems in an email but she says she didn’t send it (even tho her grandfather sees her coming out of Alex’s room she can’t remember). At church Amber again bugs Alex about being in the talent show but she dodges her. Then she overhears Hutch hitting up her grandparents for a loan until he finds a job. During the service, Alex nods off and gets a scolding from her Grandfather for that, how she’s dressed (in big clothes), and how she made a smart-alecky comment about Hutch stealing from the offering. After church, she considers not waiting until next week and just running away now and heading home. But Hutch comes up to her and tells her hitch-hiking is dangerous. How did he know what she was thinking of doing?
Alex gets blasted out by Coach Short, before and during practice because she hasn’t practiced Amber beats her in the relay race. AMBER (who she secretly doesn’t trust because she’s too nice). So she quits the swim team. It turns out Matthew is Alex’s classmate and in lab, they exchange insults before Alex shuts him up with a mention of his father digging through the trash to find his clothes. She spends the rest of lab looking up bus schedules but tickets one was to Texas are 125 dollars. Later, in Health class Matthew asks a question about alcoholism being inherited and specially mentions Houston and alcoholic fathers. This leads Alex to believe he looked into her records. She vows to get *him* back by looking into and exposing Hutch. Alex spends the time she’s supposed to be at the swim meet doing a criminal search but the one that looks promising costs and needs more info than she has. Later Morgan stops by and the truth comes out to Emily (her grandmother) that she quit the team.
Alex gets an email from her mother that’s brief but says that her Dad got another job, and maybe if he kept it she could come over spring break. Her mom tells her to call over the weekend. She also finds a message from someone named Onyx whose husband is a police man and has found a site that liss all of Hatch’s offenses under the name “Donald”. Morgan warns Alex not to get involved and to take this info to someone. Alex says that she will keep her in the loop by sending her messages through a secret code so Maya won’t see them. On chat Amber again mentions the variety show but gives an alternative. People are hiring for a day to help them out and she’s signed Alex up for a job. When she finds out it’s Hutch’s kitchen she’ll be cleaning it’s too good an opportunity to turn down. Plus it pays 50.00. But wait I thought Hutch was broke? (Onyx sends another email that they shouldn’t look into Hutch because he was dangerous).
While snooping around Hutch’s house, Alex and Morgan find several kittens locked in the basement. Then they’re locked in the basement. Matthew finds them and lets them out. Alex also finds a bunch of jewelry and disguises. Later she gets an email from someone that says he saw Hutch maybe pawning stolen goods. Alex plans to get the money to go home by selling some of her stuff. When Grandpa and Grandma come home, Grandpa gives her the bad news that her Grandma has Alzheimer’s. The next day Alex skips school, pawns her things, and buys her bus ticket. When she gets home she finds out the Dr. lied to her Grandmom that all she needs to do is take vitamins. Her grandfathers says for her sake they’ll just pretend.
Hutch shows up and dimes on Alex saying that Matthew told him she was skipping school. He also asks did Alex mention anything to her grandfather. Surprisingly her Grandfather just tells her she better not do it again and leaves it at that. Alex gets an alert that some cars are being broken into and forwards it to the rest of the watch group. Morgan then finds the ticket in Alex’s book and puts it all together. She tells Alex she doesn’t want to know her anymore and leaves. Alex helps her Grandpa change his mind about computers when she shows him that the type of Alzheimer’s she has *can* be caused by a low-level vitamin deficiency. On the day she plans to leave, her Grandparents have a pot-luck that night. Alex gets an email that the police are planning to trap Hutch that night. So before she catches her bus she heads to the old estate that he disappeared around while she and Morgan were chasing him. On the way there she a car pulls over and she thinks it’s Hutch but it’s Morgan. Alex tells Morgan why she needs to go home and they make up. They go to the estate and hear screams and see people tied to beds. But when they investigate they see people there for a theatre production. It turns out this was the talent show. It was a VA hospital for men. The disguises in Hutch’s closet were for the show. The cats were for the vets and it was cans Hutch was looking for in the trashes to turn in money for the vets. Alex flees the building after Hutch announces this will be the last show because of some rumors he’s been shut down. Outside she sees Matthew wearing an onyx ring. So Matthew is Onyx and he gave Alex a false rap sheet (their name is Hutchison not Hutchkinson) because he was mad at his Dad. They keep the cats becaue the landlord won’t allow them pets and the things Hutch pawns goes to prizes for his magic shows. Alex decides to cash the ticket and earn the money to get back home on her own. Maybe with the help of her grandparents, she can get her mom to come there. Alex apologizes on the Watch and Matthew confesses that he made the whole thing up about his father. Alex decides maybe one day she’ll want to know Matthew,
My Thoughts: Alex reminded me of some other fictional Alex’s (one in Twitches, the other in a Sorroirty Series of books)-tough, independent, outspoken. While I liked the message and that Alex learned not to judge Hutch and Grandpa learned not to judge the internet-interestingly enough there was a very offensive judgement call. And I’m not one of those people that’s sensitive to every little thing, But.. It’s clear that this series is one-sided. Alex kept thinking that Hutch was eating the cats. Then it started talking about idols and pagan animal rituals. I didn’t like that. I am a pagan and while I don’t know everything and I’m sure some might practice dark rituals, everything I’ve read about pagans has been positive and about not doing harm to others. It’s part of the creed. So I didn’t appreciate the insinuation. How can you write a book that’s supposed to be not judging but you judge a practice IN the book? Also, I found Grandmom’s beliefs questionable. And like Alex, I didn’t like Amber. Not that she was perfect and a goody goody. It was because she was PUSHY. Alex didn’t have any interest in the talent show but it was like she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Even going so far as to sign Alex up to do some work. I felt like even though Alex was a brat throughout almost this whole book, I understood her reasoning for wanting to escape a place she was happy in day after day. I *have* felt that and I could sympathize with Alex.
Rating: 7
Alex Cruz has been living with her grandparent’s half her ninth-grade year but is expecting to go home to Texas any day now because her Dad finally found another job before Christmas. Alex’s Dad we learn is an alcoholic and keeps getting laid off. But Alex is homesick for her trailer in Texas and hates living in Indiana. We see on a chat with the rest of her friend’s she’s been missing swim practice. She also turns down an invite to help her friend’s plan a talent show for some senior citizens. Morgan is staying the night and going to church with Alex in the morning. In the middle of the night they hear a commotion, look out the window, and sees her grandparent’s neighbor “Hutch” and his son in the middle of an argument. His son gets in the car and Hutch jumps on the car to stop him. But he rolls off and falls on the ground. Hutch and Matthew argue over the other staying out late and then Matthew heads back to the house. Alex sees Hutch heading toward the trash cans and suspects that he’s hiding drugs in the trash cans. So she decides to follow him and convinces Morgan to join her. After some blocks she losses him, and it’s freezing and soaked so they head back. They bump into Ryan Thomas (Amber’s brother) who offers them a ride, but they turn it down. Alex finds a stray cat and decides to take it home. She thinks that Hutch will either experiment on it or eat it. But when they get home the door is locked and her grandfather is there non to happy.
Before church, Alex puts out a neighborhood watch alert to see if she can get some information on (and caution the others) about Hutch. Alex gets one of her grandmother’s poems in an email but she says she didn’t send it (even tho her grandfather sees her coming out of Alex’s room she can’t remember). At church Amber again bugs Alex about being in the talent show but she dodges her. Then she overhears Hutch hitting up her grandparents for a loan until he finds a job. During the service, Alex nods off and gets a scolding from her Grandfather for that, how she’s dressed (in big clothes), and how she made a smart-alecky comment about Hutch stealing from the offering. After church, she considers not waiting until next week and just running away now and heading home. But Hutch comes up to her and tells her hitch-hiking is dangerous. How did he know what she was thinking of doing?
Alex gets blasted out by Coach Short, before and during practice because she hasn’t practiced Amber beats her in the relay race. AMBER (who she secretly doesn’t trust because she’s too nice). So she quits the swim team. It turns out Matthew is Alex’s classmate and in lab, they exchange insults before Alex shuts him up with a mention of his father digging through the trash to find his clothes. She spends the rest of lab looking up bus schedules but tickets one was to Texas are 125 dollars. Later, in Health class Matthew asks a question about alcoholism being inherited and specially mentions Houston and alcoholic fathers. This leads Alex to believe he looked into her records. She vows to get *him* back by looking into and exposing Hutch. Alex spends the time she’s supposed to be at the swim meet doing a criminal search but the one that looks promising costs and needs more info than she has. Later Morgan stops by and the truth comes out to Emily (her grandmother) that she quit the team.
Alex gets an email from her mother that’s brief but says that her Dad got another job, and maybe if he kept it she could come over spring break. Her mom tells her to call over the weekend. She also finds a message from someone named Onyx whose husband is a police man and has found a site that liss all of Hatch’s offenses under the name “Donald”. Morgan warns Alex not to get involved and to take this info to someone. Alex says that she will keep her in the loop by sending her messages through a secret code so Maya won’t see them. On chat Amber again mentions the variety show but gives an alternative. People are hiring for a day to help them out and she’s signed Alex up for a job. When she finds out it’s Hutch’s kitchen she’ll be cleaning it’s too good an opportunity to turn down. Plus it pays 50.00. But wait I thought Hutch was broke? (Onyx sends another email that they shouldn’t look into Hutch because he was dangerous).
While snooping around Hutch’s house, Alex and Morgan find several kittens locked in the basement. Then they’re locked in the basement. Matthew finds them and lets them out. Alex also finds a bunch of jewelry and disguises. Later she gets an email from someone that says he saw Hutch maybe pawning stolen goods. Alex plans to get the money to go home by selling some of her stuff. When Grandpa and Grandma come home, Grandpa gives her the bad news that her Grandma has Alzheimer’s. The next day Alex skips school, pawns her things, and buys her bus ticket. When she gets home she finds out the Dr. lied to her Grandmom that all she needs to do is take vitamins. Her grandfathers says for her sake they’ll just pretend.
Hutch shows up and dimes on Alex saying that Matthew told him she was skipping school. He also asks did Alex mention anything to her grandfather. Surprisingly her Grandfather just tells her she better not do it again and leaves it at that. Alex gets an alert that some cars are being broken into and forwards it to the rest of the watch group. Morgan then finds the ticket in Alex’s book and puts it all together. She tells Alex she doesn’t want to know her anymore and leaves. Alex helps her Grandpa change his mind about computers when she shows him that the type of Alzheimer’s she has *can* be caused by a low-level vitamin deficiency. On the day she plans to leave, her Grandparents have a pot-luck that night. Alex gets an email that the police are planning to trap Hutch that night. So before she catches her bus she heads to the old estate that he disappeared around while she and Morgan were chasing him. On the way there she a car pulls over and she thinks it’s Hutch but it’s Morgan. Alex tells Morgan why she needs to go home and they make up. They go to the estate and hear screams and see people tied to beds. But when they investigate they see people there for a theatre production. It turns out this was the talent show. It was a VA hospital for men. The disguises in Hutch’s closet were for the show. The cats were for the vets and it was cans Hutch was looking for in the trashes to turn in money for the vets. Alex flees the building after Hutch announces this will be the last show because of some rumors he’s been shut down. Outside she sees Matthew wearing an onyx ring. So Matthew is Onyx and he gave Alex a false rap sheet (their name is Hutchison not Hutchkinson) because he was mad at his Dad. They keep the cats becaue the landlord won’t allow them pets and the things Hutch pawns goes to prizes for his magic shows. Alex decides to cash the ticket and earn the money to get back home on her own. Maybe with the help of her grandparents, she can get her mom to come there. Alex apologizes on the Watch and Matthew confesses that he made the whole thing up about his father. Alex decides maybe one day she’ll want to know Matthew,
My Thoughts: Alex reminded me of some other fictional Alex’s (one in Twitches, the other in a Sorroirty Series of books)-tough, independent, outspoken. While I liked the message and that Alex learned not to judge Hutch and Grandpa learned not to judge the internet-interestingly enough there was a very offensive judgement call. And I’m not one of those people that’s sensitive to every little thing, But.. It’s clear that this series is one-sided. Alex kept thinking that Hutch was eating the cats. Then it started talking about idols and pagan animal rituals. I didn’t like that. I am a pagan and while I don’t know everything and I’m sure some might practice dark rituals, everything I’ve read about pagans has been positive and about not doing harm to others. It’s part of the creed. So I didn’t appreciate the insinuation. How can you write a book that’s supposed to be not judging but you judge a practice IN the book? Also, I found Grandmom’s beliefs questionable. And like Alex, I didn’t like Amber. Not that she was perfect and a goody goody. It was because she was PUSHY. Alex didn’t have any interest in the talent show but it was like she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Even going so far as to sign Alex up to do some work. I felt like even though Alex was a brat throughout almost this whole book, I understood her reasoning for wanting to escape a place she was happy in day after day. I *have* felt that and I could sympathize with Alex.
Rating: 7
August 28, 2018
This is a mini ‘Books For Christian Girls’ review. It is not a full content review and will not receive one. These mini-reviews are years old and just for clarity on the rating the book received on Goodreads.
10/10/2015-
"As a born-and-raised Texan, I personally found Alex to be annoying and an almost boarder-line stereotype of Texans. I thought she was bratty in the first book and that did not changed in this one. Being written/set in 2000, many things were out of date in the 'Web Words' section, but that's not too surprising. Not a series I've enjoyed, personally."
*Main Content-
Minor cussing including: blasted, darn, dumb, idiot, shoot, shut up, stupid, sucker, what a drag, what the heck; Alex's father drinks and when he's drunk, he throws things; Mentions of bars and drinking; Mentions of drugs, dealers, & gangs; Mentions of cute boys, crushes, & couples; Talks about shaving.
10/10/2015-
"As a born-and-raised Texan, I personally found Alex to be annoying and an almost boarder-line stereotype of Texans. I thought she was bratty in the first book and that did not changed in this one. Being written/set in 2000, many things were out of date in the 'Web Words' section, but that's not too surprising. Not a series I've enjoyed, personally."
*Main Content-
Minor cussing including: blasted, darn, dumb, idiot, shoot, shut up, stupid, sucker, what a drag, what the heck; Alex's father drinks and when he's drunk, he throws things; Mentions of bars and drinking; Mentions of drugs, dealers, & gangs; Mentions of cute boys, crushes, & couples; Talks about shaving.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews