This was not a particularly exciting story. But a very young reader who loves hockey and is just learning to read may thoroughly enjoy this book.

The Screech Owls youth hockey team is invited to play a game in Russia. One day while sight seeing, Sarah is kidnapped right off the street. She finds herself wired up like a science experiment and made to play hockey as part of her scary experience. The rest of the team doesn't think the adults are doing enough to rescue Sarah so they take matters into their own hands. Will they find her before they have to return to America? ( )

An interesting offering from Roy MacGregor in his Screech Owls series. The youth hockey team goes to Russia, timely with the Olympics, where mystery and suspense unfold. The characters are colorful and believable though not particularly deep. For the this genre, that oversight is not a detriment as it allows MacGregor to focus on setting, dialogue, and plot. He does all those things in such a way as to be fun and move the story forward but not get bogged down in technical details. Other reviewers have mention such details as lending the book an air of made-for-TV or unbelievability but I found that one could suspend all disbelief and enjoy the almost Scooby-Doo like nature of the mystery. The book is fun and is a quick read but should be enjoyable for young readers. A strong offering. ( )

I received a copy of The Mystery of the Russian Ransom through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Giveaway and it was a fun read, but definitely targeted for a younger audience. This is the first of the Screech Owls mysteries that I’ve read. There were minor references to events and character development in previous books, but I didn’t feel that I was missing out on any crucial details and it was good as a stand-alone. It was a fun mystery and I appreciated the incorporation of little elements of history and current events that I think would still be accessible and intriguing to a younger audience. I particularly liked the strong female characters and their acceptance and integral role in the hockey team – definitely a good example for younger readers interested in hockey and other sports. As an adult mystery fan, I was pretty skeptical of the premise of the mystery and found it a little predictable, but still a fun read and probably much better suited to a much younger target audience. ( )

This is the third book in the Screech Owls series that I read and reviewed. Like the others, I enjoyed the book. I thought it was appropriate for the target audience and enjoyed how the plot unfolded. What stood out the most to me was MacGregor's ability to continue to develop the characters. I liked the strong female characters as well as the personalities of the other players on the team. From the perspective of an adult, I was a little skeptical about one of the players being abducted, as I don't think the level of response from the adults and authorities would have matched a real life investigation. I also think the resolution was a bit rushed. Overall, however, I enjoyed this book and will continue to recommend this series to my students. Thanks!

An engaging novel aimed at (to my best guess) 8-10 year olds, this novel follows the adventures of a Canadian Pee Wee hockey team as they attempt to find their star player, who has been kidnapped. I found this to be a great mystery for younger readers. ( )