Cody is not the smartest kid in his high school, and he’s definitely not the richest.  But he is the star quarterback and he does have an awesome girlfriend.  Clea may live in a mansion, but she gets Cody and they enjoy each other’s company.  In fact, one day they are enjoying it a little *too* much and Clea’s father walks in on them.  The next time Clea talks to Cody, she tells him that her father is pulling her out of their school in Little Bend, Colorado and transferring her to a private school — in Vermont.

Cody says a few unkind words, Clea is shipping across the country, and life goes on.  But then Cody is tackled during a game and wrecks his knee so much that he is not allowed to play the rest of the season.  Without football to motivate him, he drops out of high school and ends up working at the local lumber yard.  It is on his way there one morning, that he sees the newspaper in local coffee shop – the front page has Clea’s picture on it with a headline “MISSING GIRL”. 

Cody drops everything and drives to Vermont, hoping to find out what has happened to Clea.  But when he gets there, he finds a whole new world; kids with money, a boarding school with its own history, and Clea’s new boyfriend.  But that doesn’t stop Cody, he is determined to find out where Clea is and if she is still alive. 

Reality Check is a quick read, a suspense/mystery book targeted towards teens but since Peter Abrahams is a talented writer, or at least, I feel like he just approaches writing like “hey I’m writing, we’ll see who reads it” that this book would appeal to anyone who is in the mood for a mystery.  I enjoyed following Cody around Dover Academy and watching him piece together all the clues, and slowly realize that maybe he was smarter than he gave himself credit for.