Stone and Spark #1 in the Raleigh Harmon prequel by Sibella Giorello

[Jax14]

Stone and Spark tells the first part of Raleigh’s story and gives you an insight as to what she experienced as a youngster which influenced her career decisions later on. The prequel series is YA based, leading to a more adult series as she joins the FBI.

Raleigh’s best friend Drew is missing. Yes, she has run away once before but this is different. For one thing, her bike is still at the school, and the lock holding it in place has been looped incorrectly and not reset to zero. Anyone who knows Drew knows this is not right. Drew is smart; super-smart, and is a stickler for statistics and things in their right places. When Drew doesn’t pitch up for her lunch meeting with Raleigh at Titus’s burger place, Raleigh knows something is wrong. But the more she tries to convince the adults around her, the more they don’t believe her. Her dad has enough on his plate, being a judge by day and her mother’s keeper the rest of the time. Drew’s mom lives in a bottle and Drew’s dad doesn’t care. Raleigh decides to play detective and is helped by her Geology teacher to look for clues beyond the obvious. To find signs where there should be none. So with just a rock hammer, a decent knowledge of the law, and a can-do attitude, Raleigh is determined to find Drew. The odds are against her – but when has that ever stopped her?

Having downloaded this as a free book and never read any of the Raleigh Harmon series, I was pleasantly surprised. While not featured a lot in the book, I loved Drew’s smarty pants character and the fact that no matter what others thought of her, that she was true to herself. Raleigh was a very interesting character. The number of times she snuck out of the house or did something she was told not to do was astounding. It served her well later, but I’m sure her dad was pushed to the limit. Her mother’s mental health issues and the effects that her medication had on her must have been very scary for Raleigh. To be constantly accused of not being her daughter, to not knowing which side of her mom was out must really have taken a toll. I liked the way that baseball played an integral part in the story, and how it weaved the burger place (with its side story) to the quarry to the character of DeMott. I would like to have known a lot more about DeMott but I guess that is brought up in other stories. Bar the Geology teacher; the staff in her school were awful – so disrespectful and condescending. About halfway through you start to figure out where the story is going, only to find out you were completely wrong. I really liked the twists and turns.

A very well-written and easy to read book with interesting characters and an exciting story. The bonus was that I learnt a heck of a lot about geology too! Definitely recommended.