Danger Road by A.L. Tait

Title: Danger Road

Author: A.L. Tait

Genre: Mystery

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Published: 1^st July 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 272

Price: $17.99

Synopsis: Everyone’s talking about Corey Armstrong … Twenty-five years ago, on a dark winter’s night, teenager Corey Armstrong was left to die by a hit and run driver on Danger Road.

Now Corey’s the subject of a podcast that’s putting his hometown on the map, but with the series almost over, the case remains unsolved. When brothers Alex and Leo decide to try to find out what happened to Corey, they learn more about his world than they could have imagined.

Everyone’s talking about the popular footballer, but the question remains: did anyone really know him? As Alex and Leo sink deeper into the past, they uncover old secrets, ready to resurface, and realise that someone in town must know something which means someone they know might be the killer. Will bringing up the past jeopardise the brothers’ own futures? And could bringing a cold case back to life prove fatal?

~*~

Corey Armstrong was killed on Dangar Road in Grayston twenty-five years ago. It’s left the town with scars, especially for Leo and Alex’s mother’s generation. They all lived through it, and now that Corey’s death is the subject of a new true crime podcast, everyone is reliving it again. Brothers Leo and Alex Hawkins are fascinated, intrigued, and maybe a little freaked out that their mother is making them listen to it.

When Alex pipes up that true crime cases on podcasts are usually not solved, their mother challenges them to solve the case. Secrets are uncovered, more voices are heard, and they ask questions that nobody seems to have asked before. But digging into the past, even armed with advice from NCIS is more dangerous than the boys first thought. And things will get hairier the closer they get to the truth.

A.L. Tait has written a ripper of a cold case mystery for middle grade readers. The premise is great, playing off the popularity of cold case true crime podcasts, and I loved the little NCIS references that Alex dropped every now and then. The novel is told in alternating perspectives, going between thirteen-year-old Alex and almost fifteen-year-old Leo. This allows the case to unfold, as each point of view brings different perspectives to the story, and the boys are able to play off their strengths. Including the ones they’re not too keen on everyone knowing about.

Harry, Alex’s best friend is also drawn into the mystery and helps them, encouraging them to go on when everything feels futile. Because Corey deserves justice. His family deserves justice, and the town should get answers about what happened to Corey and who is hiding things. Because someone is. Someone in town, who is closer than Leo and Alex realise know something. A.L. cleverly brings together everything readers love about a good crime novel. A compelling mystery. Unanswered questions. Intrepid detectives. A cold case with unanswered questions. And a need to find out what really happened. Because it’s middle grade, and fiction, there is a sense throughout the novel that things will be resolved. The resolution is why crime fiction is so popular – these stories often provide the answers and resolution to something that true crime and non-fiction, or real life, may never get. It’s why so many people watch shows like NCIS and other crime dramas that have been popular over the years. Nine times out of ten, these shows end with the killer being caught.

Danger Road captures everything people love about these shows, books, and podcasts and brings them together in a compelling story that I could not put down. As someone who has read mystery stories in some form all my life, this was one that I devoured as an adult and would have devoured as a tween or middle grade reader back in the day as well. Just the name alone feels like it’ll draw people in. It’s got genuine voices, an intriguing setting and allows the characters to embrace their various interests wholeheartedly, showing that everyone has talents that can be used when trying to solve a mystery. This was a book I was really looking forward to reading this year, and it didn’t disappoint. I think A.L. Tait’s mysteries get better each time she writes one!