Tom Lucas

Research Randy and his sister Charlie used to live in the costal town of Serenity Bay where they have successfully solved nany cases. But they have moved to Effingmouth where people are strange and nothing is what it seems. This YA mistery/thriller is not at all what I expected. I loved the title and the book cover and thought it would be a great book for my grandkids. Not only was there NO grandma character, as I read this aloud to my 11 year old grandson, he did not find it at all interesting. Such a bummer! All in all, I thought it a very weird book. The illustrations were a plus. Thank you to the publisher and LibraryThing for this ERC.… (altro)

I generally enjoy tween/YA books, as well as anything Lovecraftian, and I expected to really enjoy this book. It was interesting to see the mini mysteries with the "How did he solve it?" format that was a staple of the Encyclopedia Brown books I loved as a child. Overall it certainly an interesting read. I really didn't know what was about to happen next! But the author breaking into the story on a frequent basis wasn't a style that I enjoyed, and I found the mix of such a young tween level and disturbing horrific things kind of a strange one. I could certainly see it appealing to some kids, but I think it would depend on the child. Clearly others found this book and its style much more enjoyable than I did, and that's awesome. It just wasn't my thing. Thank you to the publisher and LibraryThing for the early review copy.… (altro)