REVIEWS of AppleJacked

 
Reviews by respected mentors of an early draft in 2015. 

AppleJacked! by Liz Boeger

Can a cozy mystery set in the world of education be exciting and compelling? Yes. In AppleJacked!, author Liz Boeger besets her protagonist, Anastasia Campbell, with dangerous puzzles from page one, then keeps up the pressure through triumph, betrayal, disaster, and more, with action ranging from a school campus to the open sea.
AppleJacked! is a debut novel with a unique plot, a varied palette of characters, and—as smart readers will expect—some stunning surprises as well.
Elizabeth Sims
Author, writing coach, and contributing editor
at Writer’s Digest magazine
July 2015


Liz Boeger’s Novel: AppleJacked!
            First of all, the book is a delight. Carefully plotted, Liz Boeger’s narrative mystery flows with clear, concise, precise prose. Carefully structured dialogue enhances the tone, quality, and persona of the novel’s characters; they become people we have known and met. We get to know Moccasin Cove, walk the halls of Moccasin Cove Elementary School, read the Sandpiper News, and hang out at the Orange Blossom Café.                                                                                                          
            But there is more: Principal Ana Campbell grew up in Moccasin Cove, Florida, back when it was a more prosperous community. She came home twenty years later, after the local concrete plant closed, to become the turn-around principal of a troubled school in a failed community. As such, the book has shades of a contemporary Return of the Native.                                                                       
            AppleJacked! takes on, explores the here and now impact of significant themes. These include: (1) sexuality, an unexpected relationship between unlikely participants; (2) thwarted desire, individual goals and dreams being crushed by unanticipated financial and social distress; derived from (3) the conflicting demands of nature and society—essentially, what happens when “smash and grab corporate raiders” wreak havoc on a town and community.                                            
             It is a good book: a book for our time.
Dr. Douglas Houck
Professor: Florida Southwestern State College
                 Barry University
May 2015

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