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Found: The Missing    by Margaret Peterson Haddix Amazon.com order for
Found
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Order:  USA  Can
Simon & Schuster, 2008 (2008)
Hardcover
* * *   Reviewed by Lyn Seippel

Jonah is a well adjusted thirteen-year-old. He has always known that he is adopted, but considers himself lucky to have the family he does. He thinks of the parents he lives with as his real parents. And his sister Katherine who is one year younger is his real sister, although she can be a pain.

Then Jonah receives two notes through the mail. The first note saying, 'You are one of the Missing' is strange, but Jonah suspects it is a prank sent by a schoolmate who knows he is adopted.

Jason's new friend receives the same cryptic notes in the mail. He confronts his dad and learns that he too is adopted. So far as his dad is concerned that subject is closed forever so Chip hunts through his dad's papers trying to find out whatever he can about his adoption.

Chip finds the phone number of John Reardon, an FBI agent, on a sticky note tacked to his adoption records. Because Chip's dad is so rigid, Jonah and his family are the ones who confront the agent. Reardon's attitude is threatening and he implies that Jason is the result of a baby smuggling operation.

Katherine is completely supportive of her brother and when the showdown, happens she is right in the middle of it. With her sharp intelligence and self assurance, she is an asset Jason doesn't want to lose, even as he tries to keep her safely out of the mystery of his adoption which keeps getting more and more fantastic.

Found is the first of Haddix's new series called The Missing. This page-turning suspenseful book will delight readers of her earlier series The Shadow Children. The cliffhanger at the end leaves no doubt that this is not a standalone novel.

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