He's Back!

All the Wrong Questions:  "Who Could That Be At This Hour?" by Lemony Snickett

Mystery

I loved this book--I loved the cover and the feel of it.  It was raised and smooth and so soft and I loved the deckled edges.  And, what was between the covers was even more to love.

The story is about the young Lemony Snickett and how he got his start in mysteries.  The big change in this series is that Lemony is no longer simply the narrator.  He's also the main character.  I found him to be so interesting, witty and clever.  I hope this series continues showing his progression all the way to SUE.  Keep in mind that this is not a spin-off from SUE, at least not yet.  It is just an earlier series with a similar character.

It's an autobiographical mystery of Lemony's first job. He has been apprenticed to an elite, but bumbling, spy named S. Theodora Marksman who whisks him off to the town of Stain'd-by-the-Sea, a seaside not not located near the sea.  Markson and Snickett are tasked with finding stolen property, a golden statuette called the Bombinating Beast.

The book had a very gumshoe feel to it.  I can totally picture young Lemony as a young Humphrey Bogart in a movie.  The book still had the trademark Snickett style-off the wall humor, silly plot strings, random events that get tied up neatly at the end, and a hidden storyline that isn't revealed in the first book completely.

I thought this was so much better than the Series of Unfortunate Events.  This first one has such great promise for a great new series. It was confusing, strange, mysterious and action-packed.  It is a book that doesn't really end.  More question and answers are sure to await in Volume 2.  If you loved SUE and are expecting more of that, you actually might not like this so start reading with an open mind.