Agent of chaos

Before he became an FBI agent, Fox Mulder was a teenager dealing with the weight of his distant father's expectations for him. When children in Washington, D.C., are kidnapped, Mulder is reminded of his own sister's unresolved disappearance. He's determined to find the abductor, but who will believe a teenage investigator? Though it's sometimes hampered by its ties to the X-Files universe, a franchise old enough that Garcia's target audience might not be all that familiar with it, the story has good bones. She's very adept at writing teenagers, and high-school readers will identify as Mulder chafes at restrictions. The mystery is gripping and will definitely keep readers turning pages, though they might be disappointed by the lukewarm, albeit realistic, resolution. A bit of light romance and a solidly crafted 1979 setting add spice to the tale, even as the shadowy figures tailing Mulder water the story down. Those figures are straight out of the TV and movie series, but readers don't necessarily need to have watched either to follow along with the adventures of Mulder and his friends.--Wildsmith, Snow Copyright 2010 Booklist