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
Worthy aims are scuttled by avoidance of nuance.
The daughter of Queen Isabella’s physician discovers that her parents don’t practice the religion in which they raised her.
Doña Isabel can’t understand why her parents insist that she be betrothed to Luis, the cruel and arrogant son of her father’s friend from the royal court. At last they explain that they are marranos, secretly living as Jews but seeking to protect her from the Inquisition by marrying her to a Christian. Shocked but not particularly given to soul searching, Isabel proceeds to meet an attractive Jewish boy, Yonah, who leads her into Toledo’s ghetto for a secret Torah class and a seder. True to type, Luis turns out to be an informer who has her father arrested and tortured—but thanks to a fortuitous family letter proving that Torquemada himself had Jewish grandparents Isabel secures his release. With “Dayenu” on their lips, Isabel and her parents join Yonah’s family and other expelled Jews headed for a new life in Morocco—their passage paid with jewelry smuggled by a loyal slave. A scant few of the Christians here are not rabidly hateful, but Wiseman is plainly less intent on posing thorny issues of faith or crafting complex characters than portraying Jewish courage and solidarity in adversity.
Worthy aims are scuttled by avoidance of nuance. (Historical fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: April 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-88776-979-5
Page Count: 232
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
Despite an engaging start and intriguing finish, Book 2 suffers from an overloaded middle that lessens the punch of its...
In the middle volume of a planned trilogy, Bowditch’s Young Inventors Guild travels to an ancient Italian village, unearthing more questions than even an international team of geniuses can answer.
It’s 1903, and for a moment, Jasper, Lucy, Faye, Wallace and Noah (five brilliant children) have everything: longed-for parents who’ve magically returned to them, well-stocked labs, and their faithful teacher, Miss Brett. But the children are devastated when, whisked away by their darkly clad guardians, they see all they love explode. The story starts fast, generating many questions: Why is villain Komar Romak still after them? Why do their diaries vanish? And are the men in strange black garb friends or foes? Despite that quick start and some engaging ideas (explosive mirages, a meeting with Nikola Tesla, an escape in a ship-turned-submarine), the book slows when the travelers reach Solemano. There, the plot bogs down amid myriad details, including descriptions of a snowball fight and baked delicacies, childish squabbles, and unresolved emotional dramas (where have the children’s parents got to?). Like its guild members, this story seems to lack a clearly defined mission; there’s just too much for readers (especially those new to the series) to keep track of. The pace quickens in a suspenseful end that answers many questions but leaves others unresolved for the conclusion.
Despite an engaging start and intriguing finish, Book 2 suffers from an overloaded middle that lessens the punch of its plotline. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: June 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-61088-104-3
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Bancroft Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2013
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