Ask the Dark
256 Pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group
Release Date: April 7, 2015
This is the story of Billy Zeets. He is 14 years old and has always been in trouble. It is summertime and he is trying to find work since their home is being foreclosed. His father is disabled, and his mother died two years ago. His sister Leezie is in a relationship with a bad boy. Because Billy goes looking for trouble, he goes looking in the windows of a house that looks vacant. He sees some boxes and thinks he can find something he can sell. He breaks in and looks around. This one act sets things in motion that will change Billy’s life.
The story involves a case of missing boys. Billy wants to find the boys and collect the reward to save his family home. The book is in the first-person point of view. The story is written as if it was spoken so the spelling and pronunciation is sometimes hard to follow. You find out that Billy is in fact talking into a recording device. Billy reminded me of the main character in John Grisham’s book The Client.