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Mason Falls Mysteries
Tracks
A teen boy rides the bus home and sees the same younger kid walking home along the train tracks every dayeven on days when the weather's terrible or when he's clearly fighting a bad cold. When the kid suddenly doesn't show up one day, the teen worries that something is wrong. But how can he get help when he doesn't even know the kid?
- GenresMystery
108 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 28, 2022
2 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 21, 2021
Perfect for those wanting a quick read. Good for upper elementary/middle grade readers.
May 22, 2024
Nick and Ava are two high schoolers, once friends and now settled into an awkward acquaintanceship, who ride the bus together to and from school every day. Every day, they pass a kid - The Kid, as they call him - walking on the train tracks to and from school. Until one day, he is sprinting down the tracks, looking terrified, and the next, he's gone. What could have happened? Is he okay? This calls for some good old-fashioned teen investigating.
I'm trying really hard to be fair to Tracks, because I know I'm not the target demographic. I picked it up because I'd had a bad day, the premise caught my attention, and I thought I could use a short, thrilling mystery/adventure to get me through until the part of the day where I could go to sleep. But Tracks was often disappointing, and importantly, I think I would have found it disappointing when I was a middle grader, too.
The main characters and the age group of the book felt a little weird to me. Nick and Ava are older high schoolers, and at one point Nick drives, but they and their experiences felt young to me, and I don't see why they couldn't have been aged down to make the book a little more internally consistent. Nick is nervous about being seen having a female friend, and they discuss whether it's okay for a girl to ask a guy out, and both of those would have played better for me if they'd been ~13 rather than ~17.
But my primary problem is just that Tracks is so allergic to the idea of kids being in real peril or suffering real problems that it's often frustrating, and undercuts the stakes of the book. I know The Kid is not going to be found dead, or probably even in the grasp of an evil serial killer... but gosh, I'd love to believe that maybe the characters believe it. There's a lot of backstory about how Nick and Ava used to be friends with a third kid, a boy who transferred to a private school, and then they fell out of touch with him and Nick feels absolutely awful about it. I thought maybe something had happened to him to give Nick this survivor's guilt, but no, he just... lost his contact information, and now he's really sad about it.
The Kid's backstory is similarly boring. No one at school has much to say about him; he has no friends, but he's not bullied or especially weird or anything. His parents? It's sort of implied that maybe he has a bad home life, but not, like, in an interesting way. The reason he went missing? OK, honestly, it's something that would genuinely really upset a kid, but the narrative and stakes as presented don't line up with the promise of the original conceit, and I felt cheated.
(Since none of my friends are going to read this book: )
If you have this book in your hands and you think it sounds interesting, like, sure, you might enjoy it. It's okay. But I wouldn't go out of my way, and if you had other options, I guess I'd probably suggest trying them.
P.S. Looking over the other MASON FALLS MYSTERIES, all four books were released in 2018 and are written by different authors. The publisher's website promises they have all of the twists and turns necessary to satisfy reluctant readers and keep them picking up the other books. I don't agree with that, really - I wasn't a reluctant reader as a child, but I have been as an adult, and I think ACTUALLY DELIVERING ON THE TWISTS AND TURNS AND THRILLS is important. However, I'm willing to exonerate author Vanessa Acton on this one. It seems likely that the things that frustrated me were passed on down to her from corporate.
Trigger warnings: There are more needed for this review than for the book.
I'm trying really hard to be fair to Tracks, because I know I'm not the target demographic. I picked it up because I'd had a bad day, the premise caught my attention, and I thought I could use a short, thrilling mystery/adventure to get me through until the part of the day where I could go to sleep. But Tracks was often disappointing, and importantly, I think I would have found it disappointing when I was a middle grader, too.
The main characters and the age group of the book felt a little weird to me. Nick and Ava are older high schoolers, and at one point Nick drives, but they and their experiences felt young to me, and I don't see why they couldn't have been aged down to make the book a little more internally consistent. Nick is nervous about being seen having a female friend, and they discuss whether it's okay for a girl to ask a guy out, and both of those would have played better for me if they'd been ~13 rather than ~17.
But my primary problem is just that Tracks is so allergic to the idea of kids being in real peril or suffering real problems that it's often frustrating, and undercuts the stakes of the book. I know The Kid is not going to be found dead, or probably even in the grasp of an evil serial killer... but gosh, I'd love to believe that maybe the characters believe it. There's a lot of backstory about how Nick and Ava used to be friends with a third kid, a boy who transferred to a private school, and then they fell out of touch with him and Nick feels absolutely awful about it. I thought maybe something had happened to him to give Nick this survivor's guilt, but no, he just... lost his contact information, and now he's really sad about it.
The Kid's backstory is similarly boring. No one at school has much to say about him; he has no friends, but he's not bullied or especially weird or anything. His parents? It's sort of implied that maybe he has a bad home life, but not, like, in an interesting way. The reason he went missing? OK, honestly, it's something that would genuinely really upset a kid, but the narrative and stakes as presented don't line up with the promise of the original conceit, and I felt cheated.
(Since none of my friends are going to read this book: )
If you have this book in your hands and you think it sounds interesting, like, sure, you might enjoy it. It's okay. But I wouldn't go out of my way, and if you had other options, I guess I'd probably suggest trying them.
P.S. Looking over the other MASON FALLS MYSTERIES, all four books were released in 2018 and are written by different authors. The publisher's website promises they have all of the twists and turns necessary to satisfy reluctant readers and keep them picking up the other books. I don't agree with that, really - I wasn't a reluctant reader as a child, but I have been as an adult, and I think ACTUALLY DELIVERING ON THE TWISTS AND TURNS AND THRILLS is important. However, I'm willing to exonerate author Vanessa Acton on this one. It seems likely that the things that frustrated me were passed on down to her from corporate.
Trigger warnings: There are more needed for this review than for the book.
February 22, 2025
I enjoyed this very quick read , I am used to mysteries that are more thriller and definitely more adult so my brain was all over the place during this book. I enjoyed the book Great is only not a 5 Star as my tension ( done well) did slow down my enjoyment of the book just a little. The audio book has fantastic narration/ voice actors. It was a wonderful change of vibes and pase .
April 11, 2019
An interesting mystery with lessons on caring and kindness. I think this book is better for a middle grade audience than YA, but suitable for both.
April 26, 2019
Fairly simple and short. Not super complicated, but would be a good book for a reluctant reader.
August 10, 2022
This Hi-Lo MG mystery was a super quick read. It was an okay plot. I would recommend it to readers who want a quick mystery.
December 7, 2022
Great as a quick read. I always loved mysteries growing up and I wish I read this as a teenager!
November 8, 2023
Another solid middle reader mystery. I’m thinking anyone reading chapter books up to early high school could relate and enjoy this mystery series.
April 16, 2024
The reason behind it all could have been a little stronger.
July 4, 2019
Quick little read with an interesting premise and a really mild mystery. Probably best suited for young teens. Apparently it's part of the Mason Falls series of mysteries. It wasn't engaging enough for me to be interested in reading the rest of the series, but I can see my 11 and 13 year old possibly enjoying them.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews