Rated 5 stars ***** ebook. 2014. Thomas & Mercer (Amazon).
Betty Martinez is bored with her high school life. Despite being a junior, her two moms have grounded her for sending a bikini photo to Jake, a boy she doesn’t even really like. Betty just wanted some excitement when she sent the photo, but her moms don’t understand.
Betty and her best friend June love listening to Indie bands, and plan to have a great time sneaking out to attend a concert. However everything goes onto the back burner the day she learns June’s aunt Mandy, a prostitute and heroin addict, had been murdered fifteen years ago by her former boyfriend, Duke Barnes, who has been incarcerated for her murder.
Neither girl had ever been aware of the crime and, with the moms and June’s mom doing everything they could to keep it quiet, Betty and June decide to do the opposite. With their teacher’s help, they arrange to do a research project on the murder and search for clues, which will prove whether or not Duke is innocent or guilty. Knowing the crime is a cold case makes it more exciting, but meeting a strange new boy named Nickel who makes Betty’s pulse race is even more fun. Nickel appears to be very hardened, but neither girl questions his sincerity in also wanting this crime to be solved.
Little do they know that the further into the case they get, the more tangled will be the web of deceit that has been woven around Mandy’s death. As they get closer to finding out what happened to Mandy fifteen years ago, none of their lives will ever be the same. Betty will soon see that excitement is overrated.
With multiple suspects to keep Betty, June and Nickel’s heads spinning, Davis brings readers onto a roller coaster ride which will leave them gasping with incredulity when the mystery of Mandy’s murder is finally solved. Despite having a very boring cover which doesn’t do justice to the action in the story, and having Nickel managing to accomplish many acts which will leave readers scratching their heads since he’s just a teenager, “Tunnel Vision” is an excellent read.
This is only his second book, but Aric Davis is an up and coming author. Keep your eye on him! I look forward to reading an earlier book with more information about Nickel titled “Nickel Plated,” as well as any further offerings along this same genre.
Recommended for readers aged 16 and older.
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