One of the things I love about reading in the mystery/thriller genre is that I usually learn something new. In this case, Alex Kava weaves lot of information — about the Nebraska census, the role of the USDA, and the industrial food chain, and explains why a 20,000 acre pine forest exists in the middle of the plains — into the middle of her mystery. The history and civics lessons were interesting; unfortunately, the mystery wasn’t so exciting.

Dawson Hayes and his teenage friends were just out to have a good time. Chew a little Salvia, hang out in the woods, and maybe scare the losers a bit. But everything goes wrong when unexplained lights filled the air and the electrical current starts to flow. By the end of the night, a couple of kids are dead and the rest are afraid of what they saw. Across the country, two government employees meet to figure out what has caused mass illness in two public schools. Is it as simple as food poisoning, or has the cafeteria food been purposefully contaminated?

I don’t think either mystery was satisfactorily wrapped up. Yes, we learn “who done it” but there’s little explanation of the “why.” And I didn’t much care. It’s too bad – I liked many of the main characters, including Maggie, Ben, and Lucy. I would be interested in learning how their relationship develops over time. But, in the end I didn’t enjoy the plot or the writing enough to pick up another (past or future) entry in the series.