"Who Could That Be at This Hour?" (Book Review)

Author: Lemony Snicket
Year: 2012
Genre: Mystery
Reading Level: Intermediate
Series: First (of four) in the All the Wrong Questions series

Plot Summary: Young Lemony Snicket's day begins in a tea shop, but soon he's swept off to a mostly abandoned town by a totally abandoned sea.  He and his associate are tasked with solving the mystery of a stolen statue, but the discovery that the statue was never stolen in the first place raises a lot of questions (wrong and otherwise).  Adventures, attempted capers and ambivalence ensue.

Red Flags: None.

My Rating: A- 
There were some things I didn't love about this book, mainly that I wasn't really sure where it was going and what the point of the mystery was.  That sounds like a big problem, but since Lemony Snicket doesn't seem to know either, it kind of works.  Aside from that, I thought it was a fun and creative.  I liked that though it's the same world (and narrator) as Series of Unfortunate Events, this was a different kind of story with totally different types of characters.  

Speaking of the characters, they were one of my favorite parts.  They were all so unique, memorable and intriguing, with their own mysteries and purposes in the story.  My other favorite thing was the Clusterous Forest.  I LOVED the Clusterous Forest, even though it doesn't do anything except be awesome.  As I was reading I would periodically pause and think "Remember how cool the Clusterous Forest is?"  I am really into this Forest. 

If you liked SOUE, there's no reason to not read this book.  If you didn't like SOUE, you might want to read this still, since it's a) a much shorter commitment b) not so dreary and c) a completely different story.