Part of a DayOne Publications ?Faith Finders? series, ?The Mystery of the Deserted House? is an interesting and engaging read for early teenagers. While the plotline seems simple ? three friends are playing a ballgame when they find a deserted house and decide to explore further ? the way the story unfolds is both perceptive and understanding. Unlike a lot of teenage fiction, this unlocks a genuine love for language, for description and for an understanding of how families interact with each other today. While an unashamed Christian title, this is a pleasurable read for anyone looking for a good story they can?t put down. The author?s years of experience as a missionary is put to good use in providing very good interesting background and reading this book is as much a learning experience as a thrilling one. While the flavour of the book is reminiscent of this reviewer?s teen experience of Famous Five and Secret Seven titles, the reality is that this is far better and is highly recommended. There?s a wonderful supporting code-breaking plot in the mid-section of the book which readers will love and it?s small touches of that kind that make the book such a joy.

Joe and his younger brother Matt are in a gang called ‘The Whistlers’ with Matt’s friend Spike; they have worked out a series of whistles to send messages to each other. They had always been aware of the house in their road that stood deserted in it’s overgrown garden, but it was not until they accidentally kicked a ball into it’s garden while on their way to the park, that they began to think seriously about it, and why it had been abandoned; they decided to explore and try to find out. It was towards the end of the Easter holidays so they had time to carry out their plan, after all, no-one seemed to care about the place so no-one could object to them going inside for a look around could they? To their surprise, it looked as if the occupants had left expecting to return, as apart from the layers of dust everywhere, it appeared lived in. They were intrigued and determined to discover what had happened. Spike’s parents took him to church and talked about God all the time. At the beginning of the summer term Spike decided to join the Christian Union at school, to find out more, but when approached by bullies as he left, he prayed urgently for help, and whistled the gang’s distress signal. It was Joe, now a prefect, who came to his rescue, and berated them. Joe thought about things more deeply than the others and decided he would go to church with Spikes family to see if he could find out more about this God they believed in. Come the summer holiday and with time to explore the deserted house again, the Whistlers found themselves in a situation they had never expected........ As you can tell, I enjoyed this and found it a good read.