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Growing up in a small town in Michigan during the 1980s, Sean Vogel was provided with an excellent garden for cultivating his writing career. With only a few simplistic video games and three television channels, he became an accomplished daydreamer and a creative outside adventurer.
A son of a garbage truck driver, Sean often received gently used items from his father’s route. With a bit of imagination and a little tinkering, these items were reborn as tools for battles against backyard bandits. These childhood experiences would later serve as the foundation and inspiration for Jake McGreevy’s gadgetry expertise.
Seeking his own adventures, Sean joined the Army via an ROTC scholarship at Colorado State University. Living in Germany for several years gave him the opportunity to travel extensively in Europe. During his time in the Army, he served in the Field Artillery and Signal Corp, rising to the rank of Captain and receiving the Bronze Star Medal for his service in Iraq.
Sean started drafting novels during downtime while stationed in Iraq; a pen is easier to carry than a guitar. But he soon fell in love with the frustrating yet satisfying science called writing and has been hard at work ever since.
When he’s not helping Jake get out of tangles, Sean is a department manager for a large aerospace company. He lives in Denver with his wife and daughter and their two dachshunds. Visit his Web site to learn more about his "Jake McGreevy" novels—"Celtic Run" & "Chicago Bound."
Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite
Chicago Bound is a Jake McGreevy Novel by Sean Vogel. Jake and his best friend and rock-climbing companion, Ben, are on their way to Chicago to attend a performing arts camp during Christmas vacation. Going to Chicago brings some sadness and nostalgia for Jake, as his mother died there in a car accident many years before, when Jake was only two years old. While he's unpacking a moving box before he leaves for the bus trip, he comes across a Teddy Bear bought for him by his mother. It has an Art Institute of Chicago tag on it. It also has a bit of discolored thread along a seam which, when pulled, reveals a crumpled note with some cryptic instructions from his mother. The note reveals the existence of a journal which Jake determines to find once he's in Chicago.
Sean Vogel's preteen adventure mystery, Chicago Bound, is action-packed and highly entertaining. Jake and his pal, Ben, are high-tech versions of the TV hero, MacGyver, and it's a lot of fun to watch how they rig up a tracker to let them know when the camp's very strict Dean is approaching. I also loved the historical information that is part of the underlying mystery concerning the lost World's Fair mural of Mary Cassatt, a mural that is still missing outside the pages of Chicago Bound. This book also gives you a good idea into what a performing arts camp would be like, especially when the conductor happens to be world-famous and not a little bit intimidating. Art, mystery, music, humor and adventure -- Chicago Bound has it all, and Jake, Ben, Natalie, Julie, even the stern Dean make it come alive. This is a grand read and recommended for anyone who's still young-at-heart enough to enjoy a bit of action and adventure.
