I ate up Caroline Cooney (The Face on The Milk Carton) and similar mystery/ suspense stories at that age, and I thought I'd totally check out a few of these books in this vein from this publisher.
Endangered is a first novel for Kate Jaimet, and, from her notes, was a long time in the making. Centering around Hayley Makk, a teenager with a sharp mind and an engrained reporter sense, this book follows Hayley on what is not, initially, a newspaper report, but a research project so she can get her final credit to complete high school. Turning into much more, Hayley finds links from sea turtles to nefarious drug dealers, and ends up getting way more than a high school credit.
If you view this book in the vein that it's written for young adults, it's fairly engaging and the story moves along briskly and without 'talking down' for younger readers. However, the audience for this book seems fairly narrow. It's fairly specific, and maybe misses out on the broader appeal it could have as a young adult mystery. I feel like you need to know a little bit about Canada to grasp some of the facts in the book as well.
The characters are fairly well fleshed out, and Hayley is a bit of a smart ass, which can be off-putting for some. Also, there were a few key sentences that kind of 'gave it away' for me too early in the book. It was a little too leading, and could have done without that over-the-top nudging towards the final answer to the mystery.
It's got a lot of honest talk, and the protagonist seems to have a good head on her shoulders. There's a lot of underlying morality going on, topics like teenage pregnancy, drinking, drug use, animal welfare, etc. All and all, it's not a horrible read. I finished it in one setting.
*(this book was received via a Shelf Awareness giveaway)
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