Readers need to be sure, when entering M.T. Anderson & Kurt Cyrus–land, they've securely fastened their disbelief to some high and sturdy hook, because as soon as they crack the binding, they will be assaulted by more looniness than any regular person could imagine. As the story opens, the series’s eponymous Pals—Katie Mulligan (star of the Horror Hollow books), Jasper Dash (Boy Technonaut, star of his own boys’ adventure series) and Lily Gefelty (ordinary)—are making their way to the "forbidden border of Delaware" (which suffers from a terrible vowel shortage). To get there, they will need to evade the spies of the Ministry of Silence (who have astonishing camouflage skills), negotiate coded menus ("If you keep on asking for hamburgers, fries, and Reubens, he will believe we are being pursued by lady musketeers. On zebra-back") and survive being guest stars on the This Is Your Double Life!!! reality game show, all with the help of some doughty monks and the obnoxious Taylor Quizmo, Secret Agent, and without harming the sentient lobsters. Hysterical—for readers willing to surrender to a walloping smart ride. (Satire. 10-14)
