Rating: 3/5
Review:
A little disappointing
I was a little disappointed in this book. It is aimed at 10- to 13-year-olds and tries to be a sort of Young Sherlock. I'm all for this sort of thing and in many ways the elements I would expect to enjoy are all there: a decent story involving a Sinister Secret Organisation, thoroughly idiosyncratic lead characters, plenty of deduction and action, idiotic grown-ups being made to look foolish, young people sorting out the incompetence of adults and saving the day...and so on. It ought to have been thoroughly enjoyable, but didn't quite manage it.
The main problem is that it all feels a bit stiff and stilted so that I didn't quite engage with the central characters, nor get really caught up in the plot. It's hard to put my finger on exactly why, but none of it felt quite real enough to work as a detective caper which left the sillier aspects of the story just looking...well...silly rather than enjoyably crazy, and the humorous elements are all a little forced. It's to do with the writing, I think; although it's competent enough, the style is slightly laboured. I don't know what it is that makes some writing really flow (if I did I would be a much better writer myself). My feeling is that this gets close but doesn't quite manage it, and I had a sense of wading through it rather than being carried along and it all felt a bit by-numbers.
I'm sorry to be vague, but it's my honest view. I see some reviewers share my reservations while others have enjoyed the book a lot, so it's obviously a personal thing. You may well get on better with this than I did, but I'm afraid I won't be bothering with any more in the series.
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