That Sinking Feeling

I’d gotten Max hurt and was standing in the dive shop in my dripping wet suit, a testimony to the fact that I’d liked, disobeyed my parents, and put Max in serious danger. 
The right thing. You’d think I could stumble on it once in a while.

Book: That Sinking Feeling (Blue Water Mysteries) by Janyre Tromp, Kregal Publications, 2006

 

Genre: Adventure, Mystery

Target Audience: Girls 12-15

Subjects: Lying, Relationship with parents, Forgiveness, Friendship

Summary: Sometimes it’s hard not knowing what the right thing to do is. Her mom wants her to be a girly girl, a little doll she can dress up. But that’s not who she is. She wants to be strong. She wants to be loyal. She wants to help. So when she and her best friend, Max, stumble across evidence that implies his own family could be involved in a crime, she decides to take matters into her own hands and investigate, even though it means lying, disobeying and putting both her and Max in danger. Then the unthinkable happens. The possible danger becomes a reality and she and Max are alone under the water.

Notes: A stand alone story rather than a part of a series, That Sinking Feeling is the story of a thirteen year old girl struggling to do “the right thing”, whether it means not sticking her tongue out at a younger sister who just pinched her, wearing a dress to Church, or turning over crime scene evidence to the police. When she messes up, she realizes it and after hearing a sermon at church on how the Lord detests lying lips, she concludes God must be as mad at her as her mom is. Her pastor encourages her to read Romans 5:8 and realize that everyone has sinned and that God loves us anyway. This book is a mystery story, but not too intense. You never truly suspect a character is going to die. It’s very good for younger readers. The spiritual content doesn’t come until the crisis but it’s very well done when it does come.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 4/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Romans 5:8 – But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.