THE POSTCARD

Thirteen-year-old Jason fears his parents are breaking up. When his estranged (and strange) grandmother passes away in Florida, his possibly alcoholic father goes down to take care of her estate; Jason worries that means his father is moving out. Jason goes to Florida to attend the funeral as well as to keep an eye on dad. In his grandmother’s things, Jason finds a magazine containing a pulp-noir story that seems to be about his grandmother and great-grandfather, one of the original Florida land barons. He also finds a mysterious postcard that hints at the location of further installments of the story. With the help of local teen Dia, Jason uncovers the solution to a family mystery that just may save his father. Author of the endless Secrets of Droon series, Abbott has created a silly, overlong mystery full of conclusion-jumping and nonsensical clues. The characters are annoying (even to each other) and the supposedly compelling mystery Jason finds is a florid, turgid mess. (Fiction. 11-13)