My Brother's Keeper

Kristin Butcher writes novels for young adults. Her most recent works
are Cairo Kelly and the Mann, The Gamma War, and The Tomorrow Tunnel.

When 14-year-old Sarah Prentiss agrees to oversee her younger cousin
James, for two weeks while her aunt is away and her uncle is working,
she has no idea of the intrigue awaiting her. Her relatives’ home,
once the main lodge of Brother Twelve, a cult leader of the late 1920s,
sets the cousins and two neighboring children on a search for clues
about the mysterious cult leader and his followers and perhaps also the
discovery of the gold they purportedly hoarded. The children learn about
Brother Twelve from a variety of sources, including a demented old man
who claims to have been part of the cult when he was a boy. The more the
youngsters learn, the more obsessed Sarah becomes with Brother Twelve,
to the point that she begins to believe the cult leader has come back
from the dead to recruit her.

The novel explores the facts and folklore surrounding this historical
Vancouver Island figure, and though some of the information is
interesting, the recitation of it often slows the pace of the narrative.
The main suspense is derived from Sarah’s almost hypnotic
preoccupation with Brother Twelve—to the point that she begins
sleepwalking. Woodson has done a good job of this aspect of the story.
Unfortunately, Sarah’s scary experiences are swept away too easily at
the end of the novel, which, combined with the reality that the children
make no new discoveries, leaves the reader feeling somewhat dissatisfied
with the book. Recommended with reservations.