“’All right, then,’ Frankie said, rubbing his hands together.”

From Keith Calabrese’s Connect the Dots.

Best friends Oliver and Frankie are starting middle school with the hopes that school will provide an escape from the craziness and that overwhelms their lives at home. Everyone in Lake Grove Glen is captivated with the mystery of Preston Oglethorpe, a local young mathematical genius that disappeared several years ago. While Oliver and Frankie may not have known exactly what to expect from middle school, they never could have expected that the odd new girl, Matilda, would launch them into a conspiracy beyond their wildest dreams. When Matilda–whose father is an FBI agent–realizes that Oliver is being followed, she convinces the boys to investigate what’s going on behind the scenes and things seem to point to Oliver’s mom’s childhood friendship with Preston. A quick run to the store leads to stopping a lunch bully and a dog-walking job for Frankie and an imposter inserting himself in Oliver’s mom’s life. So in an effort to understand the recent random happenings, the kids look into Preston’s research which focused on chaos theory and even planning events through the butterfly effect. As random event seem to unfold around Oliver, the kids realize that there are too many coincidences happening for Preston Oglethorpe to not be nearby, so they hunt for him as danger closes in for all of them.

While written for a younger audience, this book develops in such a way that readers of any age will enjoy the impressive story. The characters are unique and remain believable throughout the well-planned story. Connect the Dots manages to be complex without being overwhelming and readers will be captivated from start to finish.