In this rough-cut, Hardy Boys–style sequel to Death in Kingsport (2007), teen sleuths Neil, Graham and wholesomely libidinous sidekick Crescent repeatedly risk their lives to investigate a mysterious disappearance. Set largely in and around a Canadian castle with the requisite dark history, the plot not only features such customary tropes as a secret passage, oblivious adults, contrived murder attempts and bumbling police, but is positively punctuated with found notes, overheard conversations and conveniently timed revelations. Parkinson trots in new characters at need, has his young folk blithely commit crimes from breaking and entering to manslaughter without guilt or personal repercussions and in the end kills off two bad guys while letting the chief instigator (clumsily modeled on Lady Macbeth) go scot-free. Only the quick pacing is up to even Stratemeyer standards. (Mystery. 11-13)
Pub Date: April 14, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-88776-893-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
The author of several Ian Fleming–style thrillers for adults reworks his lengthy self-published 2000 debut into a windy, labored and even longer doorstopper. On the eve of World War II, 12-year-old Nick receives an appeal for help from a Napoleonic-era ancestor about to get blown out of the water while trying to get vital information to Lord Nelson. The desperate message comes with a portable time machine, so off Nick hies to 1805, leaving his six-year-old sister paired with a hypercompetent inventor/British Intelligence Officer to capture an experimental Nazi supersubmarine. Linking the twin plotlines is Billy Blood, a vicious pirate with another time machine and a penchant for holding wealthy children from various eras for ransom—aboard, conveniently, the very French warship that is attacking Nick’s ancestor. Needless to say, after extended sea battles Blood is foiled (but not killed, so look for sequels), the children rescued, the sub captured and the dispatches delivered, all amid many gaps in logic and massive contrivances. Bell should have left this one in his sea chest. (Fantasy. 11-13)
Pub Date: May 13, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-38068-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2008
Victorian London’s taste for ancient Egyptian artifacts might lead to the destruction of humanity when the British Museum inadvertently frees an ancient vampire master. Assistant museum curator George, aspiring actress Liz and thieving urchin Eddie are back for another round of fighting mystical evil (The Death Collector, 2006). It seems like half of London is pasty-pale and avoiding cameras, and our heroes are sure a tragedy is on the verge of befalling the city. But meanwhile, life goes on: Liz has been given the chance of a lifetime to replace an actress who’s ill with a strange wasting disease, and George has been invited to join the elite Damnation Club. This Gothic adventure is both marred and blessed by all of the excesses of the classic Dracula-esque tale. Complete with clouds of vampire bats, mesmerized orphans and a massive underground pipeworks filled with blood, this fast-paced adventure makes for a delightfully gruesome alternative to Twilight. (Fantasy. 11-13)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59990-140-4
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2008
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