So I discovered VERONICA MARS on the plane last summer. I thought I was tuning in to a remake of the old flick “The Eyes of Laura Mars” (anyone remember that?) but then I realized I was watching some trendy teen solve mysteries. It was fairly entertaining and I enjoyed the movie. When I saw this book come up on Edelweiss I snagged it to review.

In this story, Veronica is hired to find out what happened at a trendy hotel in Neptune. A young woman was found raped and nearly beaten to death in a garbage dump after having visited the hotel the night before. She has no memory of that attack. Oddly enough, the hotel video footage shows the girl arriving and visiting the bar, but then leaving by the stairs and never exiting the building. A young hotel worker, who turned out to be illegal and was sent back to Mexico, is blamed for the attack. Veronica is not so sure, though. How did the victim leave the hotel? Is she telling the truth? And if she’s not, why not? These are just some of the questions that Veronica sets out to answer.

I enjoyed this book, though I think it would have helped if I had read the earlier book in the series (there were many references to it, though some were familiar due to the movie I saw). It is a fairly easy read and well-plotted. Veronica is plucky and smart. She has her issues with her boyfriend and with creating her own identity away from her father’s. I would definitely read another Veronica Mars book!

Thanks, Edelweiss, for my ARC to review!