The Trap

by Joan Lowery Nixon

Julie resents being sent to spend the summer with her great aunt and uncle on their ranch in Texas, Rancho del Oro. Her swim team needs her and she’ll be away for the whole summer season. But her family
is counting on her, too. Uncle Gabe has broken his ankle and Aunt Glenda needs help. Julie is the only one available. Maybe she’ll surprise herself and actually have a good time.

But something strange is going on at Rancho del Oro. Pieces of jewelry and little objects are missing. The older people on the ranch say they may have misplaced the items–but something doesn’t add up. In addition, two ranch residents have recently died. The deaths have been ruled accidents, but were they? When she discovers Uncle Gabe’s fall was not an accident, Julie knows she must discover the killer’s identity. Or else she could be next.


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Fiction, Teen

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Author of more than one hundred books, Joan Lowery Nixon is the only writer to have won four Edgar Allan Poe Awards for Juvenile Mysteries (and been nominated several other times) from the Mystery Writers of America. Creating contemporary teenage characters who have both a personal problem and a mystery to solve, Nixon captured the attention of legions of teenage readers since the publication of her first YA novel more than twenty years ago. In addition to mystery/suspense novels, she wrote nonfiction and fiction for children and middle graders, as well as several short stories. Nixon was the first person to write novels for teens about the orphan trains of the nineteenth century. She followed those with historical novels about Ellis Island and, more recently for younger readers, Colonial Williamsburg. Joan Lowery Nixon died on June 28, 2003—a great loss for all of us.

Reviews

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great mystery about a teenage girl named Julie who lives in California but goes to a Texas ranch to help her great aunt and uncle after her uncle's fall. At first she is not thrilled about abandoning her swim team to spend her summer vacation on a ranch, but she soon discovers that something is not right on the ranch. Besides the cowhands and workers, there are several retired, elderly couples living on the ranch. They thought it would be a good investment. However, there have been three major accidents on the ranch, all of which were unattended falls. Two of the men who fell died. Luckily, Julie's uncle survived with only a broken ankle, but he swears something or someone tripped him as he was going down the stairs of his observatory. Julie also discovers that many of the couples are missing small, but expensive possessions. At first, the older people think they are misplacing the items, but it becomes kind of fishy when so many items are missing and the people cannot remember when they last used or saw the items. Julie's best friend back in California reads all kinds of mystery novels, so Julie discusses the mysterious falls and the missing items with her on the internet. Finally, Julie is convinced that the falls weren't accidents. Someone purposefully tied a clear string between two nails on the stairs to trip her uncle. Now she is afraid whoever it was will try to hurt him again. She is not sure who to confide in, but she tries to tell her suspicions to the sheriff. However, he thinks she has a big imagination and won't help her. Meanwhile, she tries to figure out if she can trust Cal, a cowhand, Luis, a ranch handyman, and Ashley, a girl staying with her grandma who is the maid for most of the elderly people on the ranch. She is afraid to tell her aunt because she knows it will worry her. She begins investigating the falls herself, and she is warned by an anonymous person on the internet that she needs to stop investigating or something bad might happen to her. Julie goes into her uncle's observatory at night and uses the telescope to watch people on the ranch and look for clues. She suspects a pool boy, Damien, and decides to set a trap for him. However, the trap doesn't work and she soon figures out who the real murder is. The book reaches its climax at the end when Julie faces the murderer alone at night in the observatory. This is a really exciting book that could be read by upper elementary children.

[Alayna Pingel · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Trap" is a mystery book about Julie. Her parents make her go and stay with her great-aunt and uncle for the summer to help them out after her uncle fell and broke his ankle. Her uncle is convinced that he tripped over something and didn't fall, so Julie starts looking into it. She begins to suspect that it wasn't an accident and starts trying to figure out who did it.

This book is one of those super cheesy mystery books, but I really liked it because of that. I thought it was a fun read, but it's not something that will change your life. I felt like it ended really abruptly, but other than that, I really enjoyed it.

[EmilyAnn Cato]

This book was very intriguing through out, and had a very interesting ending.

[Rachel Heinen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Julie didn't want to spend the summer with her great aunt and uncle, but after her uncle breaks his ankle she has no choice. She has to abandon her summer plans of being on the swim team and hanging with friends to live with her aunt and uncle. She also has to endure emails from all the rest of her relatives with advice about how to take care of them. But when there are suspicious circumstances in her uncles fall she decides to investigate.

[Micah R · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very good. It had me guessing till the end. I realy like this author and was sad to hear that she died in 2003. The Trap is a book that you should pick up during the summer when you are bored. I will read this book again because it is such a well written book. I highly recomend this book to anyone who enjoys a good old mystery book.

[Chandni · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of the weaker Joan Lowery Nixon novels. It was so easily predictable and you figure out the twist so early on in the novel that it feels pointless to finish the story. Julie was also a pretty mediocre heroine. The most interesting character was Ashley.

[SC · Rating 2 out of 5]

...Only because this was her final work before her death. As a mystery novel on its own, it's quite sub-par.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is super good:) it keeps u guessing

[Hapzydeco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good mystery. Julie, main character, uses a laptop. Nixon has characters using Instant Messenger.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Joan Lowery Nixon. I found The Trap to be among her weaker books but it's a still a pretty good read.

[RHardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[White Witch · Rating 5 out of 5]

a really good book!!! i loved it!

[Sarah Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok...not great.

[Jamilia]

great

[Miss Grewe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Her mystery is fine. I like how she throws a lot of red herrings, but the pacing really ruins it for me.

[Sondra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull. Pacing is too hurried. Characters are too flat.