Koerner HBD

Christopher Koerner

Mrs. Arnold

English 10

18 May 2015

Home Before Dark

The book Home Before Dark by Tim Shoemaker is a fictional detective thriller, that focuses on a kidnapping. The story begins in a park with four kids on their way home after a night out. The teens Cooper, Gordy, Hiro, and Lunk are in a rush to get home when one notices a van in the parking lot of the park. On top of the van is a backpack, and when the car starts to drive away Gordy decides to go warn the driver about the pack. As he leave the others quickly realize that something seemed wrong; Cooper, Gordy’s cousin, quickly pedals toward the van to catch up with him. All of a sudden, when Gordy goes to return the pack he is tasered and thrown in van by a big man. The three kids quickly call the police with what they think the licence plate numbers are, but by the next morning there is no sign of Gordy, the van, or the kidnapper. Over this period Cooper goes through stages of guilt and blame, while Hiro, whose dream job is a police officer, works on possible places Gordy could be hidden locally. All the characters views are shown and how they are feeling in the moment. I enjoyed the characters as they all go through a struggle and the way their feelings are expressed make the helplessness they feel more real to the reader. I personally enjoyed the book and would recommend it to our age group and both to guys and girls