Missing on Superstition Mountain is a good old-fashioned adventure story, with enough suspense and intimations of creepiness and danger to spice it up, but not enough to truly frighten the readers. When three brothers, Simon, Henry, and Jack, move to a new town in Arizona, they are bored and lonely, and in search of something to do. The one thing they are told not to do is to go near Superstition Mountain, which looms invitingly behind their back yard.
Of course they soon find themselves climbing the very mountain they were warned away from, but they have a good excuse -- they are looking for their lost cat, who was seen heading that way. They don't find the cat on the mountain, but they do see something more intriguing: three skulls lined up on a ledge. When they return to town, they decide to do more research about the mountain, and find out why the townspeople are so tight-lipped about it. They team up reluctantly with the girl who found their cat, and with the help of the local library and a few local residents, they discover even more creepy facts about the mountain, including a history of mysterious deaths and disappearances.
The climax of the book finds them back up on the mountain, facing perils as the night falls. They eventually are rescued, but the book leaves enough open questions to set up the next book in the planned trilogy, which readers are sure to await eagerly. For now, however, this book stands alone as a rollicking adventure set on a real-life spooky mountain. 2011
M. Adams
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