As a lifelong fan of Scooby Doo, Nancy Drew, the Boxcar Children, and other mystery series, I was excited for the opportunity to read IT FOUND US, a supernatural mystery with a young teen girl detective.

The opening scene was a funny bait and switch in tone, and it lent an easy introduction to our narrator, Hazel. However, Hazel takes a bit of a backseat as the mystery begins, merely observing her brother and his friends play hide and seek in the graveyard an subsequent disappearance of her brother's friend. I wonder if this book might have benefited from alternating viewpoints between Hazel and her brother, Den.

Hazel is a perfectly imperfect main character: impulsive but dedicated, single-minded and empathetic. Her relationship with her brother is realistic - neither constantly at each others' throats not finishing each other's sentences. One of the best things about children's mystery and horror is that the young characters can make unbelievably bad decisions and put themselves in more perilous situations (running from a black-eyed ghoul with its mouth stitched shut through a cemetery in a storm to hide in a MAUSOLEUM?!), and the reader can maintain remain sympathetic to the situations the characters find themselves in.

Hazel does shake off a supernatural experience early in the book a little too easily for someone whose defining characteristic is collecting facts before jumping to conclusions; hallucinating a houseful of smoke down to retching coughs is a big "blue" to nonchalantly add into a clue journal.

This book has a lot of heart and explores a historical tragedy (inspired by a real life event) with a sensitivity appropriate to the age of the characters and readers. To go from scared to heartbroken is no easy feat, and this story succeeds in that regard.

I rated this book 5 stars not because it's a perfect book for me, but because it's the perfect book for any kid who's felt like they weren't taken seriously by the adults in their lives and every child who still believes that Hazel believes: "Maybe it's stupid. Maybe I won't be able to do it. But I have to try."

IT FOUND US by Lindsay Currie

The title and cover drew me to this book straight away, as well as the author. I recently read What Lives in the Woods, so I was keen to see Lindsay’s next paranormal idea - and I wasn’t disappointed.

Hazel Woods is a sleuth and has been solving neighbourhood mysteries for awhile but really wants to start up her own podcast, ‘What Hazel Knows’. When her brother, Den, organises to meet his friends in a cemetery for a game of hide-n-seek, Hazel follows him. What follows leads Hazel, Den, and friend Maggie on a trail of clues supplied by a ghost in order to find Den’s friend Everett who went missing during the game.

What I really enjoy about Lindsay’s books is that they are paranormal, and ‘what goes bump in the night’ is not explained away as something else. The cause is a ghost, but the reason behind the ‘hauntings’ is investigated and dealt with by the characters. IT FOUND US has such an interesting historical back-story. I also loved how the characters developed from when we’re first introduced to them through to the final chapters.

Highly recommend for ages 10+.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a spooky, supernatural whodunnit in the traditionnof Harriet the Spy. Middke grade readers will love a spunky, intuitive self-styled tween detective to root for in this ghostly caper.

ARC received from NetGalley.

Hazel, age 12, is a budding young detective who likes to solve mysteries. When a late night hide-and-go-seek game at Woodlawn Cemetery ends in the disappearance of her brother Den’s friend Everett, Hazel must work with her brother and her friend Maggie to solve the mystery of his disappearance. The question on Hazel’s mind is did he sneak off as a joke or did the spirits that haunt Woodlawn Cemetery have something to do with Everett’s disappearance.

It Found Us by Lindsay Currie is everything upper to middle grade students want in a scary book and then some. There are humorous elements including the mystery of brown packages left on a neighbor’s lawn in the evenings. There are historical tidbits mixed in with the fictional haunting. Students will be most drawn to the scary elements that include a fire for one, small footprints left in the attic, human possessions and a child-sized spirit with dark hollows where the eyes should be.

I loved this book! Another Lindsay Currie exceptionally done spooky MG!

This book had everything — ghosts, amateur investigation, podcasts, a plucky protagonist, a great sibling relationship, a great friendship, historical mysteries, a terrifying hide-and-seek metaphor!

I can't say enough about Hazel as a main character and her exploration of what happened to one of her brother's best friends after he goes missing in a game of hide-and-seek in a cemetery of all things! It was a great unravelling of a mystery with Hazel, her brother and her friend, Maddie, at the helm, and Currie did an amazing job by keeping me on the edge of my seat as Hazel learned bits and pieces to solve the disappearance. But was compounded by the fear that the ghost would finally get its hands on Hazel, Den and Maddie, true to the title!

Would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone!

It Found Us is another must have for my K-4 library. My readers love Currie's stories and this one will be yet another winner! When a game of hide and seek turns into more. It Found Us leaves you guessing and on the edge of your seat because who knows what will happen next and if it will find you. I give It Found Us a 5 out of 5 stars!

Another excellent middle grade horror from this author! I love how she combines a main character who loves solving mysteries with a thrilling ghost story anchored in Chicago history--her best work yet!

Lindsay Currie was, far and away, my top Middle Grade discovery of 2022 and I read, reviewed and thoroughly enjoyed three of her novels Scritch Scratch (2020), What Lives in the Woods (2021) and The Girl in White (2022). If you are a school librarian looking for not-too-scary horror fiction this author is indispensable and one of my top tips. Currie returns with It Found Us, another highly entertaining horror thriller, which also keeps one eye on historical events (but this does not become apparent until quite far into the plot) and is built around the disappearance of a teenager who is fooling around playing hide and seek in the local graveyard late at night. This tightly constructed plot then plays out over the next two to three days as the small town are shocked by vanishing of Everett, who seems to have disappeared into thin air, with no clues as to where he has gone.

However, even though the police fail to find clues this is not the same for twelve-year-old Hazel Woods has always had an unusual knack for sleuthing and dreams of running her own true crime podcast (her parents said no). The missing teenager, Everett, is the best friend of her elder brother Den and together they try and solve the mystery which they soon connect to the fact that the graveyard is supposed to be haunted. Hazel is the type of character Lindsay Currie loves to put front and centre in her fiction and I enjoyed the manner (with her methodical lists of clues) she solved the creepy mystery, with her best friend also joining the team. It soon becomes apparent that something supernatural is going on any young kids are going to have fun with the strange presences which follow the kids, cracking the clues and identifying what lurks in the cemetery. It Found Us is a beautiful blend of suspense, ghosts, mystery, friendship and family. Highly recommended. AGE RANGE 10-13.

IT FOUND US is an engrossing, fast-paced, Paranormal Thriller with a very scary cover and spooky character. Aimed at middle graders, I found it very enjoyable [and scary], but also heartwarming as the twelve-year-old amateur sleuth works with her older brother and best friend to solve a multilayered mystery, including a vanishing. The author skillfully weaves in an actual early 20th-century tragedy as the basis for the contemporary events. Just as important are the characters' evolution, and the process by which families are solidified by recognizing the worth of each family member and of the family as a totality. Totally worth reading: give it a go!

I have read several of Lindsay Currie’s spooky middle grade books and I absolutely adore them. This one included. For middle grade, they have moments that are absolutely terrifying and they give me those nostalgic vibes of reading scary books as a kid.

It Found Us had me huddled up under the blankets thinking about ghost monsters in the closet. I loved it!

The main character is a 12 year old aspiring detective. With the help of her brother and close friend, they try to solve the mystery of their missing friend. There is suspense, ghosts, mystery, friendship and family. Everything that I look for in a middle grade novel.

It Found Us comes out in September. Just in time for a fun and spooky Halloween read.