Cohen, Marina. The Inn Between.

Cohen, Marina.  The Inn Between.  Macmillan/Roaring Brook Press  2016   198p  $16.99  ISBN 978-1-62672-202-6      ms      Horror  VG-BN    

Cohen has written a creepy, atmospheric novel about 11-year-old Quinn. Quinn has been going through a rough patch. She was caught cheating in school and her little sister Emma vanished when walking home after school and was never found. Quinn is devastated to discover that her best friend Kara and her family are moving away.  Kara’s family invites Quinn on a family trip to soften the blow, only to disappear without a trace, stranding the two girls in a strange hotel populated by even stranger people. 

The publisher describes this volume as “The Shining meets Hotel California" in this supremely creepy middle-grade novel.”  Certainly the engaging characters and vivid, emotionally laden prose are gripping. The fast-paced story will have readers turning pages as fast as they can to find out what happens next! 

Summary: On a family vacation with her friend Kara, Quinn and her buddy find themselves stranded in a strange hotel as they attempt to discover the whereabouts of Kara’s family, who have mysteriously disappeared. 

Mystery-Fiction                                       --Hilary Welliver

Cohen, Rich. Alex and the Amazing Time Machine.

Cohen, Rich.  Alex and the Amazing Time Machine.      Macmillan/Henry Holt 161p $15.99    978-0-8050-9418-3       elem        Good  Science fiction  

Alex has always been fascinated by science, especially the possibility of time travel.  When his brother is kidnapped, Alex must figure out how to actually build a time machine so that he can go back and prevent the kidnapping.  Grades 3-6    

Alex is the classic nerd.  He goes to the library and reads old science books.  He has always been fascinated by the relationship between time and space and the possibility of time travel.  His best friend Todd is totally into sports.  When Alex’s brother Stephen is kidnapped, Alex finds a baseball card that is identical to the one he has in his pocket, which had been a gift from Todd.  Finding this card gives Alex the confidence that a time machine is possible, because he believes that in the future he had built one and gone back to the scene of the crime and left the card.  So he builds a time machine to go back in time and prevent the kidnapping of his brother.

Science and time travel aficionados who can keep up with traveling back in time to change the present and future may enjoy this title.  The often disinterested third-party narration gets pedantic, which slows down the story.  In addition, the reader never gets any information on how Stephen fares with the kidnappers, so he/she feels doesn't become emotionally involved or connect sufficiently with Alex's fear or compulsion to build the time machine and save Stephen.  This title falls short of its possibilities.                                             --Joan Theal