The Most Emotional Sammy Keyes Book Thus Far: Sammy Keyes and the Showdown in Sin City by Wendelin Van Draanen

I haven't cried so much reading a Sammy Keyes book since Psycho Kitty Queen.  But I have never laughed harder throughout the series (I laughed uncontrollably at least 6 different times), and I was left with such a sense of happiness when I finished that I'm still grinning nearly an hour later.

In Sammy Keyes and the Showdown in Sin City, Wendelin Van Draanen masterfully weaves several story arcs into a wild but totally believable caper that plucks Sammy out of Santa Martina and sets her loose on Vegas.  Van Draanen's rich, three-dimensional, dynamic characters drive the plot, so that no matter how ridiculous the situation Sammy ends up in, you know exactly how she got there, and it's utterly believable.  The themes of family and trust shine through without being pounded to death.  Some of the other Sammy Keyes books have ended with a short "I learned something today" reflection that others might have found a bit preachy (though I never found them to be), but there's none of that here.

Sammy Keyes is primarily a mystery series, but the mystery always goes hand in hand with the events of Sammy's life.  Sammy spends most of this book in crisis mode, so she's not actively trying to figure out mysteries most of the time (she's focused on finding her mom, which is a mystery, but not one she or we can really solve).  But as a reader, you know the main mystery's there, and you can solve it, even though Sammy is not (until the last moment).  And there are actually at least two sub-mysteries for which there were ample clues sprinkled so that a fan of the series could solve them just before Sammy did.  And while the mystery may not be the best mystery of the series, the plot more than makes up for it.  (My favorite mystery of recent books was Wedding Crasher.)

One caveat: while this book could be enjoyed on its own, it's made richer (both emotionally and in solving the mysteries, through understanding the personalities involved) by knowing the history of the previous books.  This is the 16th book of the series; starting with it would be akin to starting Harry Potter with Half-Blood Prince.

If you're looking for a phenomenal mystery series, in which the clues are cleverly sprinkled throughout each book so that a careful reader can solve the mystery, without resorting to any discernible formula, I can't recommend Sammy Keyes highly enough.  Or if you're looking for a spunky, kind, believable heroine who manages to get herself into the craziest, funniest messes imaginable, again, Sammy Keyes is your girl.  Showdown in Sin City will be a highlight of the series, but every reader should take the entire wild roller-coaster ride Wendelin Van Draanen has masterfully designed to bring you there.