Lemony Snicket, author of the Series of Unfortunate Events, returns with “Who Could That Be at This Hour?”, book one in a new series, All the Wrong Questions. This is a book with a lot of questions and frankly, not many of them are answered–even at the end of the book. That might possibly disturb some readers and I am not sure how it will settle with the young audience this book targets; however, it was the unanswered questions that kept me hooked as an adult reader.
This mystery had all the Lemony Snicket style including vocabulary exposition and a brooding vibe. While The Series of Unfortunate Events was always terribly predictable (nothing was ever going to work out) and had a tendency to border on depressing, “Who Could That Be at This Hour?” was none of those things. Rather it felt like an artsy detective flick reminiscent of Dick Tracy. Complemented by some brilliant and stylistic artwork, this book is just the thing for a reader who is longing for an authentic mystery and something fresh in the middle-grade genre!
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: None
Violence/Gore: Report of an abduction; a couple of verbal threats; a character is tied-up and in life-threatening peril.
Sex/Nudity: None
Mature Subject Matter:
Crime (theft and trespassing)
Alcohol / Drug Use:
None
