The Westing Game
                 Reviewed by: Kailee Drain

 
    Would you take a chance at a million dollars? Even, if it involved murder? The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin is a suspenseful, mind-boggling mystery. It involves sixteen heirs who all, unknowingly, are related to the victim, Sam Westing! They compete will little time and only a certain amount of clues.
     This novel takes place in modern-day times in Westingtown, Wisconsin. It is a suspicious place because the apartment that the heirs live in is called Sunset Towers, but it faces where the sun rises and it doesn't have any towers. Also, not everyone knows how, but the heirs are all related to Sam Westing. It is a wealthy place because the apartment building has speedy room service, special windows, and an elegant restaurant inside. Also,  the apartment is very busy because there are many families, a restaurant, café, and a doctor’s office. All these people are looking for clues, so they are running about every day! Therefore, the setting of this book is very busy, but that is all because of the characters that live there!
    There are many characters in this mystery. Turtle is one of them. She is smart because she plays the stocks. She is thirteen, has a long braid, and her face looks like a turtle. She kicks people when they pull her braid. Another character is Angela Wexler. She is young, beautiful and twenty years old. She is engaged to Doctor Denton Deere. She is brave because she blew up a bomb in her own face. Also, she is smart because she only had to go through one year of college, and she is great at the mystery. Next, is Flora Baumbach, who is sixty years old. Turtle calls her Baba because Baumbach sounds too much like bomb. She is old and kind. She is friendly because she helps Turtle with stocks, and she is very kind to Turtle. (Most people aren’t.)   She is strong because her daughter, Rosalie, died only a year ago, but she isn’t always mourning about it. Those are some of the characters, in The Westing Game, but what is the problem?

           The problem in this story is that sixteen heirs (including the three above) are gathered in this apartment, Sunset Towers, to find out who the killer of this unknown man, Sam Westing, is! They each are paired with a partner, given clues, and whoever the winner is gets two million dollars. A lot of people wander about trying to get clues. Some of the good friends, such as Turtle and Baba, share clues with each other. Some think they have discovered the murderer, while others don’t even think there is a murder! Turtle, Grace, Otis, and Angela are very good at gathering up clues. It is very scary though, because they get snowed in this hotel with a murderer roaming about!! A lot of the heirs are anxious to see who wins, not knowing that none of them are right! Turtle, one of the main characters, thinks she is the winner and gets all the money! She is not the winner though! In the end, she learns that she isn’t always right, sometimes others are!
I thought this book was suspenseful, fun, and thrilling. The author describes settings, characters, and feelings very exactly. She also put the answer to the book together creatively. This book is somewhat like Clue, except more suspenseful. I recommend this novel to kids who like to be challenged by mysteries. GO! Check this book out.  It can’t be that scary!!!