Maybe I'll break my rule about reading the first novel by an author I haven't read before. The first is new work, a writer getting their writing muscles warmed up, the first editorial relationship tested, working arrangements, word choices being set like a table for a fancy dinner. This first novel has no tablecloth and plastic forks; we know the set-up, the bad guys, and the outcome way too soon. There's a weird typo missed in a sentence early on that read "opened the 'chest,'" instead of "chart." It was hard not to study the manuscript too intensely from that point on, because the story isn't a feast that makes you forget about the accoutrement. The story's been done before; only the names of characters have been changed. It's good writing, especially concerning the children. But it's just too easy to have a female hero who trips over her own feet, makes silly - and then stupid - decisions, gets herself caught more than once, and cries too damn much; and always, always preceded by "I won't cry. I won't!" after which she does.