Alison Hart

Alison Hart: Shadow Horse

Random House, £3.45

Rating:  «««««

Shadow Horse  opens with 13 year old Jas facing a courtroom and prosecution or assault on the owner of the High Meadows farm, Hugh Robicheaux. Until the assault, this is where she lived with her grandfather, who worked for Robicheaux. Jas found the mare Whirlwind dead, poisoned by eating yew, and her grandfather, who has since had a stroke, has been accused of negligence by allowing the yew to be in the paddock. Jas, however, is sure that Hugh Robicheaux has killed the mare deliberately and blamed her grandfather.

Jas is very much alone at the beginning of the book: Hugh Robicheaux is powerful, and she is just a 13 year old girl. She is convicted, put on probation, electronically tagged and sent to live with a foster carer. Even Diane Hahn, the foster carer, seems to have a connection with Robicheaux. Miss Hahn does, however, have horses: she runs Second Chance Farm, a rescue centre. Jas is a girl on a mission, determined to prove that her grandfather is innocent and that Hugh Robicheaux did kill Whirlwind. At first she is prickly with everyone, including Chase, a teenager who helps at the Farm. She is not, however, lily-white - she has absorbed more than she realised of the attitudes of High Meadow:: horses are only worth having if they are beautiful and win things.

Jas does come to see that there are other ways of looking at things, particularly when she persuades Diane Hahn to buy Shadow, a horse suffering from a thyroid condition, at the local sale. There is a lot more to Shadow than meets the eye, and so the mystery goes on.

It's an incredibly absorbing book. The shenanigans of Hugh Robicheax are slowly unfolded, against the background of Jas thawing out and learning to like and trust Chase and Diane (a bit more than like in the case of Chase), and of course there's plenty of equine rehabilitation too. My sympathies were with Jas - although she's pigheaded, she's a likeable teenager and the pigheadedness is part of her charm.

The one quibble I have with this book (which was an Edgar Award Nominee for Best Juvenile Novel) is that there is no sequel. The book is all set up for it: there are plenty of plot lines to be developed. Hugh Robicheax is not brought to justice, though they're close. But there is no sequel. It is a book absolutely crying out for the next episode.

Alison Hart isn't immune to writing series: the Riding Academy series is one of hers, she's written several of the Linda Craig series, and she's also written a series for older children set during the Civil War. I'm really not sure why she's not gone on with the story. She has an immensely likeable heroine in Jas, a little light romance, an absorbing mystery, and some excellent equine action. If you were to put this book against others in the rehab genre: Heartland and Winnie the Horse Gentler, it wins hands down. As a crime fiction title, it succeeds too. I've read a lot of whodunits, and the plot turns in this one had me glued to the page. I read it again just before I did this review, and it was if anything even better the second time round
 

Alison Hart is the pseudonym for Alison Leonhardt, under which name she has written some books, though as far as I can see all her horse books are written under the name Alison Hart.  Besides Shadow Horse, she is responsible for the Riding Academy, some of the Lilnda Craig and Thoroughbred books as well as some Mary-kate and Ashley titles. She says “I love writing books that keep young readers glued to the page,”  and she has certainly succeeded in this as far as Shadow Horse is concerned.

Alison Hart on the Children’s Book Guild

More about Alison Hart (Alison Leonhardt)

Alison Hart and the Thoroughbred series

Other Alison Hart titles

The Gabriel series
Gabriel’s Horses, 2007
Gabriel’s Triumph, 2007
Gabriel’s Journey, 2008

The Riding Academy Series
A Horse for Mary Beth, 1994
Andie out of Control, 1994
Jina Rides to Win, 1994
Mary Beth's Haunted Ride, 1994
Andie Shows Off, 1994
Jina's Pain-in-the-Neck Pony, 1995
The Craziest Horse Show Ever, 1995
Andie's Risky Business, 1995
Trouble at Foxhall, 1995
Foxhunt!, 1995
Lauren Rides to the Rescue, 1995
Haunted Horseback Holiday, 1996

Linda Craig titles
Kathy in Charge, 1990
The Riding Club, 1990
A Horse for Jackie, 1990
The Glimmering Ghost, 1990
The Silver Stallion, 1990

Thoroughbred Titles
Christina’s Courage, 1998
Melanie's Last Ride, 1998
A Home for Melanie, 1998
Dead Heat, 1999
Star in Danger, 1999
Living Legand, 2000
The Bad Luck Filly, 2000
Perfect Image, 2000
Team Player, 2001.
Racing Image, 2001
Perfect Challenge, 2002
Faith in a Long Shot, 2003