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All the Wrong Questions #1
Who Could That Be At This Hour?
Before you consider reading "Who Could That Be at This Hour?" ask yourself these questions:
1. Are you curious about what is happening in a seaside town that is no longer by the sea?
2. Do you want to know more about a stolen item that wasn't stolen at all?
3. Do you think that's any of your business? Why? What kind of person are you? Really?
4. Who is that standing behind you?
1. Are you curious about what is happening in a seaside town that is no longer by the sea?
2. Do you want to know more about a stolen item that wasn't stolen at all?
3. Do you think that's any of your business? Why? What kind of person are you? Really?
4. Who is that standing behind you?
258 pages, Hardcover
First published October 23, 2012
883 people are currently reading
22263 people want to read
About the author
Lemony Snicket
302books26.1kfollowersLemony Snicket had an unusual education and a perplexing youth and now endures a despondent adulthood. His previous published works include the thirteen volumes in A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Composer is Dead, and 13 Words. His new series is All The Wrong Questions.
For A Series of Unfortunate Events:
For All The Wrong Questions:
For A Series of Unfortunate Events:
For All The Wrong Questions:
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,932 reviews
October 25, 2012
There was a book, and there was a twist and there was annoyance. I was reading said book, I was hit by a twist in it - which here means I was surprised by the writing inside it, not that it somehow managed to bend my body unnaturally - and when I was done with the book, I was annoyed.
I should've asked myself why I ever thought it would be any different than Lemony Snicket's other wonderful books, or why I even supposed it wouldn't be in the first place, but instead I asked myself all the wrong questions and thus I write this review, relaying to you my findings whilst reading Lemony Snicket's brand new book, Who Could That Be At This Hour?
This is a book about a boy in his apprenticeship being sent to an empty town surrounded by a waterless sea and a treeless forest, which are all in turn surrounded by mystifying mysteries extending as far as the non-astigmatic eye can see. The boy's name, in case you were (wrongfully) asking yourself, is Lemony Snicket, and the book contains his account on the finding and losing - then finding and losing yet again - of a seemingly unimportant statue of virtually no price at all.
I must say that I was rather skittish regarding Who Could That Be At This Hour?, as it is a sort-of-but-not-really sequel to Lemony Snicket's earlier-published series, A Series of Unfortunate Events. Seeing as there's a quite enormous gap between one series and the other, one would be prudent to feel skittishness regarding the new series, as sometimes authors lose track of the magic they managed to create at first, only to try and emulate it again and fail miserably at it.
I believed that to be the case as I read the first two chapters, however I was quickly proven wrong, which I consider to be as twisty as plot twists in middle grade books happen (not that I'm an expert on the area of middle grade plot twists, mind you. I'm sure there are loads of people who have profound knowledge of this area, however). Lemony Snicket's new adventure is as full of wonder, secrets, and questions left unanswered as his previous entries, and I was quite pleased to finish this book in total elation of what I'd just read.
However, I did mention that there was annoyance, and it would be quite redundantly neglectful of me to neglect to explain why: I would like the next book in this series, and I would like it as of this second. You've most certainly known people who throw absolute fits of frustration - or maybe thrown a few yourself - so I'm sure you need no help picturing myself as I hurl every object in sight on any flat surface in reach of me until the next book in this series comes out.
I should've asked myself why I ever thought it would be any different than Lemony Snicket's other wonderful books, or why I even supposed it wouldn't be in the first place, but instead I asked myself all the wrong questions and thus I write this review, relaying to you my findings whilst reading Lemony Snicket's brand new book, Who Could That Be At This Hour?
This is a book about a boy in his apprenticeship being sent to an empty town surrounded by a waterless sea and a treeless forest, which are all in turn surrounded by mystifying mysteries extending as far as the non-astigmatic eye can see. The boy's name, in case you were (wrongfully) asking yourself, is Lemony Snicket, and the book contains his account on the finding and losing - then finding and losing yet again - of a seemingly unimportant statue of virtually no price at all.
I must say that I was rather skittish regarding Who Could That Be At This Hour?, as it is a sort-of-but-not-really sequel to Lemony Snicket's earlier-published series, A Series of Unfortunate Events. Seeing as there's a quite enormous gap between one series and the other, one would be prudent to feel skittishness regarding the new series, as sometimes authors lose track of the magic they managed to create at first, only to try and emulate it again and fail miserably at it.
I believed that to be the case as I read the first two chapters, however I was quickly proven wrong, which I consider to be as twisty as plot twists in middle grade books happen (not that I'm an expert on the area of middle grade plot twists, mind you. I'm sure there are loads of people who have profound knowledge of this area, however). Lemony Snicket's new adventure is as full of wonder, secrets, and questions left unanswered as his previous entries, and I was quite pleased to finish this book in total elation of what I'd just read.
However, I did mention that there was annoyance, and it would be quite redundantly neglectful of me to neglect to explain why: I would like the next book in this series, and I would like it as of this second. You've most certainly known people who throw absolute fits of frustration - or maybe thrown a few yourself - so I'm sure you need no help picturing myself as I hurl every object in sight on any flat surface in reach of me until the next book in this series comes out.
January 23, 2013
Do any actual kids like Lemony Snicket books, or are they only read by hip parents who think that they are the kind of books they want their kids to like?
Because, sure, I'd think it was neat if my daughter was into, like, opaquely plotted genre satires stuffed with obtuse narration, whimsical wordplay, literary references and impenetrable characters, books that tackled life's big philosophical questions through a meta-filter of storytelling.
But actually, kids want to read Captain Underpants and Judy Moody.
This is why the publisher has turned the Lemony Snicket books into uniformly designed fetish objects: because they appeal exactly to the book-loving parents who fool themselves into thinking their kids will one day pull them off the shelf and actually read them.
But not that copy! That's daddy's special matched-set copy.
Oh, this book? Well, if you read all 13 volumes of A Series of Unfortunate Events, it is more of the same. Delightful writing, a total unwillingness to actually explain what is going on, promises of revelations in future lovingly-designed books in the series, none of which will actually contain any of those answers.
(Xmas gift.)
Because, sure, I'd think it was neat if my daughter was into, like, opaquely plotted genre satires stuffed with obtuse narration, whimsical wordplay, literary references and impenetrable characters, books that tackled life's big philosophical questions through a meta-filter of storytelling.
But actually, kids want to read Captain Underpants and Judy Moody.
This is why the publisher has turned the Lemony Snicket books into uniformly designed fetish objects: because they appeal exactly to the book-loving parents who fool themselves into thinking their kids will one day pull them off the shelf and actually read them.
But not that copy! That's daddy's special matched-set copy.
Oh, this book? Well, if you read all 13 volumes of A Series of Unfortunate Events, it is more of the same. Delightful writing, a total unwillingness to actually explain what is going on, promises of revelations in future lovingly-designed books in the series, none of which will actually contain any of those answers.
(Xmas gift.)
March 12, 2015
For me starting to read this book was like coming home from a long vacation to your own bed and toiletries and cuddly cat. So you will possibly guess that this review might be slightly biased toward the tendency I have to love everything DanielLemony HandlerSnicket puts his hands on.
The things I loved about this book:
1. The setting. So. Weird. And quirky. A town by the sea that's no longer by the sea that's major industry is extracting ink from caves populated by terrified Octopi? How does one think of these things?
2. The characters. There's Lemony of course, who I am enjoying getting to know more as a character and not just as a narrator. But the other characters are fantabulous too. Moxie and Dashiell Qwerty and S. Theodora Markson, and Ellington Feint (I LOVE the names of his characters and their personalities), and the little little hints towards people we already know from the future -- I am so excited to read the rest of this series and learn more about these people.
3. The language. Back to true A Series of Unfortunate Events fashion, the word defining and strange similes and odd worldplay is back, and it's (for me) like being wrapped up in a warm blanket.
I just hope that the Bombinating Beast doesn't end up like the Sugar Bowl... :) When's the next book come out?
The things I loved about this book:
1. The setting. So. Weird. And quirky. A town by the sea that's no longer by the sea that's major industry is extracting ink from caves populated by terrified Octopi? How does one think of these things?
2. The characters. There's Lemony of course, who I am enjoying getting to know more as a character and not just as a narrator. But the other characters are fantabulous too. Moxie and Dashiell Qwerty and S. Theodora Markson, and Ellington Feint (I LOVE the names of his characters and their personalities), and the little little hints towards people we already know from the future -- I am so excited to read the rest of this series and learn more about these people.
3. The language. Back to true A Series of Unfortunate Events fashion, the word defining and strange similes and odd worldplay is back, and it's (for me) like being wrapped up in a warm blanket.
I just hope that the Bombinating Beast doesn't end up like the Sugar Bowl... :) When's the next book come out?
July 20, 2022
3 Silver stars
it wasn't as good as a series of Unfortunate Events (I generally picked it up, thinking it was about that secret organization VFD, the past events of when Snicket joined & what was happening, it apparently was not)
it's the first book in the series. but I laughed at some dumb events. so yep I think 3 is good & fair.
it wasn't as good as a series of Unfortunate Events (I generally picked it up, thinking it was about that secret organization VFD, the past events of when Snicket joined & what was happening, it apparently was not)
it's the first book in the series. but I laughed at some dumb events. so yep I think 3 is good & fair.
July 26, 2021
i tried, but nothing will ever compare to A Series of Unfortunate Events.
and okay i didn't really try.
part of my review-books-i-read-a-long-time-ago series
and okay i didn't really try.
part of my review-books-i-read-a-long-time-ago series
August 7, 2013
You getting this all right, son, or am I goin' too fast for ya? Oops. Wrong character. That's hard-boiled detective Sam Spade. Thirteen-year-old Lemony Snicket would say, This was nonsense, of course, but there's nothing wrong with occasionally staring out the window and thinking nonsense, as long as the nonsense is yours, which pretty much sums up this twisty tale. There's the nonsense of the mystery. There's the nonsense of the word definitions. There's the nonsense of the town with its missing ocean. There's the nonsensical adults. And while Sam Spade isn't in the novel, there is one character by the name of Dashiell, a femme fatale, and roadster, in this hilarious parody of noir detective fiction.
Prepare to parachute into this plot with a duffel bag full of questions and little answers. It's hard to tell what's going on at the start of the novel. Lemony is supposed to take the train to meet someone in the city. He's at a cafe with his parents, when a woman drops a note in his lap to meet him; he jumps out a bathroom window where he's left a ladder for himself (which makes no sense). The couple in the cafe are not Lemony's parents; laudanum was put in his tea because the so-called parents were going to do something to him but I have no idea what it is. Are you confused yet? As the story progresses I don't feel quite as lost or I'm adjusting to the odd plot progression, but I have to say the writing is so funny I wasn't really bothered by all the nonsensical who, what, when, where, and whys.
Lemony is an apprentice to a secret organization (I never found out what that was) and his boss S. Theodora Markson makes it clear that she is in charge and he is to do everything she asks. Lemony asks what the "S" stands for but she answers that he's asking the wrong question. (Stupid, is my guess.) The two have a job to do which is collect a missing statue in the town, Stain'd-by-the-Sea, which was once on the sea but no longer is - I have no recollection of why, so it must not be important to the plot (or I'm an idget). The plot changes so many times it reminds me of when I have to unknot my jewelry after traveling 22 hours from Taipei to Minneapolis. You'd think I'd learn to not throw it all in one plastic bag... Anyway, you won't know what is going to happen next and the unpredictability made it a page turner.
So many children's books have characters that give word definitions in an effort to aid young readers; however, it is done so much I somewhat dread coming across it. This author parodies this writing technique with nonstop over-the-top word definitions that pokes fun by having the characters do it so much I found myself laughing versus being annoyed. Take the interchange between Ms. Feint, the femme fatale, and Mr. Snicket:
We can rescue him without kowtowing to a villain like Hangfire.
What does 'kowtowing' mean?
To behave in an obsequious manner.
I could play this game all night, Mr. Snicket. What does 'obsequious' mean?
See what I mean? Nonstop nonsense.
Then there's the walk down literature lane. Two boys named, Pip and Squeak, drive a taxi (Squeak pushes the pedals and Pip handles the steering), and Lemony pays them in tips by recommending books. How can you not love that! There are constant references to books, films, and other media. No one can possible know them all. I had fun guessing some, such as the character in Johnny Tremain, author Roald Dahl, and Laura Ingalls Wilder.
I was disappointed in the ending that resolves nothing. If anything, I had more questions than throughout the entire book. I can just picture the author going, Har-Har-Har, gotcha! Okay, so maybe an English guy wouldn't sound like that... instead he'd yell, Stop asking the wrong questions! Ask a few more! A fun read.
Reading Level 5.6
Prepare to parachute into this plot with a duffel bag full of questions and little answers. It's hard to tell what's going on at the start of the novel. Lemony is supposed to take the train to meet someone in the city. He's at a cafe with his parents, when a woman drops a note in his lap to meet him; he jumps out a bathroom window where he's left a ladder for himself (which makes no sense). The couple in the cafe are not Lemony's parents; laudanum was put in his tea because the so-called parents were going to do something to him but I have no idea what it is. Are you confused yet? As the story progresses I don't feel quite as lost or I'm adjusting to the odd plot progression, but I have to say the writing is so funny I wasn't really bothered by all the nonsensical who, what, when, where, and whys.
Lemony is an apprentice to a secret organization (I never found out what that was) and his boss S. Theodora Markson makes it clear that she is in charge and he is to do everything she asks. Lemony asks what the "S" stands for but she answers that he's asking the wrong question. (Stupid, is my guess.) The two have a job to do which is collect a missing statue in the town, Stain'd-by-the-Sea, which was once on the sea but no longer is - I have no recollection of why, so it must not be important to the plot (or I'm an idget). The plot changes so many times it reminds me of when I have to unknot my jewelry after traveling 22 hours from Taipei to Minneapolis. You'd think I'd learn to not throw it all in one plastic bag... Anyway, you won't know what is going to happen next and the unpredictability made it a page turner.
So many children's books have characters that give word definitions in an effort to aid young readers; however, it is done so much I somewhat dread coming across it. This author parodies this writing technique with nonstop over-the-top word definitions that pokes fun by having the characters do it so much I found myself laughing versus being annoyed. Take the interchange between Ms. Feint, the femme fatale, and Mr. Snicket:
We can rescue him without kowtowing to a villain like Hangfire.
What does 'kowtowing' mean?
To behave in an obsequious manner.
I could play this game all night, Mr. Snicket. What does 'obsequious' mean?
See what I mean? Nonstop nonsense.
Then there's the walk down literature lane. Two boys named, Pip and Squeak, drive a taxi (Squeak pushes the pedals and Pip handles the steering), and Lemony pays them in tips by recommending books. How can you not love that! There are constant references to books, films, and other media. No one can possible know them all. I had fun guessing some, such as the character in Johnny Tremain, author Roald Dahl, and Laura Ingalls Wilder.
I was disappointed in the ending that resolves nothing. If anything, I had more questions than throughout the entire book. I can just picture the author going, Har-Har-Har, gotcha! Okay, so maybe an English guy wouldn't sound like that... instead he'd yell, Stop asking the wrong questions! Ask a few more! A fun read.
Reading Level 5.6
October 7, 2012
I'm not sure if I would be a reader today if not for "A Series of Unfortunate Events" .
A few nights ago, I was in a small town, and in that small town was an "obscure" a word which here means "so small and pushed aside only an avid reader (or VFD member) would notice it." I walked inside and began talking to the owner about how I review books on "ŷ", a word which here means "a website used to express one's opinion of a literary piece or work." She then went into the "back room" a word which here means"a supply closet", and pulled out a review copy of "Lemony Snicket's ALL THE WRONG QUESTIONS" and offered it to me for eight dollars, half of the cover price. My day was made.
I have been waiting for ATWQ since "The End" a word which here means "the final SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS book, published six years ago in 2006." Six years is a long time to wait for the next book by your favorite author! Although, yes, there are a few minor inaccuracies between Snicket's UNAUTHORIZED AUTOBIOGRAPHY and ATWQ, it didn't let me down one bit. Complete with black, white, and blue illustrations by SETH, who, unfortunately, is not Brett Helquist, but equally as talented. The first book of the quartet begins with Lemony Snicket receiving a note in a coffee shop that tells him to jump out the window of the bathroom. Snikcet does so, and waiting for him in a black car is the mysterious, dark-haired S. Theodora Markson. (whenever someone asks what the S stands for, she makes a statement that begins with S. EXAMPLE: "What does the S stand for?" "Stop asking the wrong questions.") Markson leads Snicket to an odd town called Stain'd By the Sea, which used to be a sea, but was drained of it's water to "save the town". (A mystery which will probably never be solved.) In the town, they arrive at a frazzled woman's house who is missing a statue which is made from the rarest wood in the world. Snicket must find the statue in order to continue his apprenticeship at VFD. But he'd better not ask any questions.
The thing with this incredibly witty book is, it messes with your head. EXAMPLE:
1. What happens next?
2. When will Snicket get a decent meal?
3. Where is the item everyone is looking for?
4. Why do you want to know?
5. Are these the right questions?
(from ATWQ 2-chapter sampler)
Snicket also uses the classic "A Word which here means.." line in the new series, along with a rollercoaster-fast plot, dark characters, and a mysterious society that brings them all together. Is Snicket cut out to be a VFD member?
Should you buy this book?
Is Beatrice in the books?
Are these the wrong questions?
NOTE: Most Barnes and Noble bookstores are giving out limited edition ATWQ chapter samplers in the children's department!
A few nights ago, I was in a small town, and in that small town was an "obscure" a word which here means "so small and pushed aside only an avid reader (or VFD member) would notice it." I walked inside and began talking to the owner about how I review books on "ŷ", a word which here means "a website used to express one's opinion of a literary piece or work." She then went into the "back room" a word which here means"a supply closet", and pulled out a review copy of "Lemony Snicket's ALL THE WRONG QUESTIONS" and offered it to me for eight dollars, half of the cover price. My day was made.
I have been waiting for ATWQ since "The End" a word which here means "the final SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS book, published six years ago in 2006." Six years is a long time to wait for the next book by your favorite author! Although, yes, there are a few minor inaccuracies between Snicket's UNAUTHORIZED AUTOBIOGRAPHY and ATWQ, it didn't let me down one bit. Complete with black, white, and blue illustrations by SETH, who, unfortunately, is not Brett Helquist, but equally as talented. The first book of the quartet begins with Lemony Snicket receiving a note in a coffee shop that tells him to jump out the window of the bathroom. Snikcet does so, and waiting for him in a black car is the mysterious, dark-haired S. Theodora Markson. (whenever someone asks what the S stands for, she makes a statement that begins with S. EXAMPLE: "What does the S stand for?" "Stop asking the wrong questions.") Markson leads Snicket to an odd town called Stain'd By the Sea, which used to be a sea, but was drained of it's water to "save the town". (A mystery which will probably never be solved.) In the town, they arrive at a frazzled woman's house who is missing a statue which is made from the rarest wood in the world. Snicket must find the statue in order to continue his apprenticeship at VFD. But he'd better not ask any questions.
The thing with this incredibly witty book is, it messes with your head. EXAMPLE:
1. What happens next?
2. When will Snicket get a decent meal?
3. Where is the item everyone is looking for?
4. Why do you want to know?
5. Are these the right questions?
(from ATWQ 2-chapter sampler)
Snicket also uses the classic "A Word which here means.." line in the new series, along with a rollercoaster-fast plot, dark characters, and a mysterious society that brings them all together. Is Snicket cut out to be a VFD member?
Should you buy this book?
Is Beatrice in the books?
Are these the wrong questions?
NOTE: Most Barnes and Noble bookstores are giving out limited edition ATWQ chapter samplers in the children's department!
February 12, 2021
A detective story about Lemony Snicket when he was 13. Funny and smart.
I like Snicket's description of LORD OF THE RINGS: "A bunch of elves and things get into a huge war over a piece of jewelry that everybody wants but nobody can wear...a wizard who's very powerful but not very helpful."
Or JOHNNY TREMAIN: "...about a boy named Johnny. He lived in America when America was still England. One day he burned his hand and was no longer able to work as a silversmith, which sounded like a miserable line of work anyway, so he took an interest in local politics. I felt sorry for the guy, but I had other things on my mind..."
Or LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS: "...a book that did nothing to relax my nerves. The story took place in some big woods where a little house was home to a medium-sized family who liked to make things. First they made maple syrup. Then they made butter. Then they made cheese, and I shut the book."
He doesn't say the title of any of these books, but any well-read person can deduce what he's talking about.
I like Snicket's description of LORD OF THE RINGS: "A bunch of elves and things get into a huge war over a piece of jewelry that everybody wants but nobody can wear...a wizard who's very powerful but not very helpful."
Or JOHNNY TREMAIN: "...about a boy named Johnny. He lived in America when America was still England. One day he burned his hand and was no longer able to work as a silversmith, which sounded like a miserable line of work anyway, so he took an interest in local politics. I felt sorry for the guy, but I had other things on my mind..."
Or LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS: "...a book that did nothing to relax my nerves. The story took place in some big woods where a little house was home to a medium-sized family who liked to make things. First they made maple syrup. Then they made butter. Then they made cheese, and I shut the book."
He doesn't say the title of any of these books, but any well-read person can deduce what he's talking about.
March 11, 2013
The question I had before picking up this book was, What should I read when the antibiotic I'm taking makes me feel more ill than what it's supposed to be treating? I'm not sure if that's a "wrong question," but this book was a right answer.
At some point I realized -- with the stolen item and its convoluted travels and the girl that maybe shouldn't be trusted -- I was reading a mild parody of the , which added to the fun. And, though it's not obvious, the dialogue of the last chapter convinced me I was right. It's not necessary to know that book, or the genre (which isn't a favorite of mine), but it did make this book even more fun than it already was.
My favorite parts, though, have to be the "tips" the young Lemony Snicket gives the young "substitute" cab drivers (whose names taught me about an unfinished work by Flaubert). It was fun figuring out which books they were talking about; and because of it, I just requested from the library "the one about the tap dancer and the lawyer," because it was written by the author of one of my favorite books when I was a kid.
At some point I realized -- with the stolen item and its convoluted travels and the girl that maybe shouldn't be trusted -- I was reading a mild parody of the , which added to the fun. And, though it's not obvious, the dialogue of the last chapter convinced me I was right. It's not necessary to know that book, or the genre (which isn't a favorite of mine), but it did make this book even more fun than it already was.
My favorite parts, though, have to be the "tips" the young Lemony Snicket gives the young "substitute" cab drivers (whose names taught me about an unfinished work by Flaubert). It was fun figuring out which books they were talking about; and because of it, I just requested from the library "the one about the tap dancer and the lawyer," because it was written by the author of one of my favorite books when I was a kid.
November 17, 2012
Video review coming.. soon ;)
February 8, 2019
I love Lemony Snicket, have for years! This book was good solid Snicket. Not great Snicket but good Snicket. There’s the trademark snark and humorous absurdity and the language, as always, is fabulous. The characters are not nearly as likable & developed as Violet, Klaus, and Sunny (“A Series of Unfortunate Events�) but this is the first book in a series so I’ll see what happens in the following volumes.
March 28, 2023
What a wacky book! It's so over the top at times that it makes me giggle from the absurdity. This makes A Series of Unfortunate Events seem tame. It's definitely less serious and more light-hearted in nature.
Anyone who's familiar with Snicket will feel right at home. Of course, Lemony himself HAS to be in the story, and in this series he's the main character. Makes you wonder if this is somehow the prequel to A Series of Unfortunate Events in which we learn more about Snicket's mysterious past. Speaking of mysteries, there's a ton here like usual. Will any mystery be solved? Will any questions be answered? No, probably not, but that's to be expected.
Anyone who's familiar with Snicket will feel right at home. Of course, Lemony himself HAS to be in the story, and in this series he's the main character. Makes you wonder if this is somehow the prequel to A Series of Unfortunate Events in which we learn more about Snicket's mysterious past. Speaking of mysteries, there's a ton here like usual. Will any mystery be solved? Will any questions be answered? No, probably not, but that's to be expected.
February 8, 2022
7 out of 10
All the Wrong Questions, Who Could That Be at This Hour, is a book about a young detective named Lemony Snicket, and his chaperone, Theodora. Together they are on a mission to return a stolen statue to its rightful owner, and they have to figure out who stole it in the first place.
This book is really weird. It has such a wacky and almost satirical sense of humor. There are also many weird parallels in this book because Lemony Snicket is the author's pen name, and the main character in this fictional book, and Lemony Snicket is also a character in A Series of Unfortunate Events.
This book is so strange. I love it because I am a big fan of Mr. Snicket's sense of humor and his hyperspecific-ness. I love the characters in this book, but also it is a little hard to understand some of the things that go on in this book because the author loves to keep answers from you until the last minute. I was pretty confused throughout this book, and I wasn't sure if I was mentally prepared enough for part two when I had finished reading this book. I still haven't read the sequels, but I might have a go at reading the series again someday.
All the Wrong Questions, Who Could That Be at This Hour, is a book about a young detective named Lemony Snicket, and his chaperone, Theodora. Together they are on a mission to return a stolen statue to its rightful owner, and they have to figure out who stole it in the first place.
This book is really weird. It has such a wacky and almost satirical sense of humor. There are also many weird parallels in this book because Lemony Snicket is the author's pen name, and the main character in this fictional book, and Lemony Snicket is also a character in A Series of Unfortunate Events.
This book is so strange. I love it because I am a big fan of Mr. Snicket's sense of humor and his hyperspecific-ness. I love the characters in this book, but also it is a little hard to understand some of the things that go on in this book because the author loves to keep answers from you until the last minute. I was pretty confused throughout this book, and I wasn't sure if I was mentally prepared enough for part two when I had finished reading this book. I still haven't read the sequels, but I might have a go at reading the series again someday.
January 31, 2020
This is basically a noir mystery series for kids. Lemony Snicket is both the author and the main character of this story. In this series Snicket is a kid who ends up getting involved with a mysterious organization. When he and his incompetent chaperone are hired to retrieve a family heirloom, a darker side of the town they are in is revealed. The dialogue is snappy and sharp and the characters are interesting. If you're looking to read something light, this is a good choice.
October 31, 2012
This is the newest book from Lemony Snicket. It's the first of four volumes that form the authorized autobiography of the author, titled "All the Wrong Questions", and act as a sort of prequel to A Series of Unfortunate Events. I say "sort of" because so far there's very little link between the two series but that's not to say there is no link at all.
In this book 13 year old Lemony Snicket begins an apprenticeship to S. Theodora Markson, a woman who seems hopeless at solving the cases she's been hired for and never tells anyone what the S stands for. Snicket ends up in a town called Stain'd-by-the-sea which is a grim setting which works brilliantly. On arrival Snicket discovers a mystery involving a statue of a mythical beast and due to having a useless chaperone tries to solve this mystery himself.
Fans of ASOUE will love this. It's written in the same witty and brilliant style and has the same sense of doom and depression. It's great to have a new Lemony Snicket book and I wonder if this series will answers some of the questions we've had for so long? But then again maybe that's the wrong question...
In this book 13 year old Lemony Snicket begins an apprenticeship to S. Theodora Markson, a woman who seems hopeless at solving the cases she's been hired for and never tells anyone what the S stands for. Snicket ends up in a town called Stain'd-by-the-sea which is a grim setting which works brilliantly. On arrival Snicket discovers a mystery involving a statue of a mythical beast and due to having a useless chaperone tries to solve this mystery himself.
Fans of ASOUE will love this. It's written in the same witty and brilliant style and has the same sense of doom and depression. It's great to have a new Lemony Snicket book and I wonder if this series will answers some of the questions we've had for so long? But then again maybe that's the wrong question...
June 18, 2019
Great stuff! Very funny and well written.
I'd've loved these as a kid; why couldn't he have written these forty years earlier?
I'd've loved these as a kid; why couldn't he have written these forty years earlier?
September 24, 2012
Last year I was running a bookgroup for kids, ages 9-12, when the subject of children’s books adapted into films came up. We talked about the relative success of , the bewildering movie that was , and the gorgeous credit sequence for . Then one of the younger members, probably around ten years of age, turned to me and asked in all seriousness, “Do you think they’ll ever make a movie out of ?� I was momentarily floored. It’s not often that kids will remind me that their memories of pop culture are limited to their own experiences, but once in a while it happens. This girl couldn’t remember back five years to that very film adaptation. And why should she? She was five then! So when I see a new Lemony Snicket series acting as a kind of companion to the aforementioned A Series of Unfortunate Events I wonder how it will play out. The original series was popular around the time of that Spiderwick movie. Does that mean that the new series will founder, or will it be so successful that it brings renewed interest to the previous, still in print and relatively popular, books? Personally, I haven’t a clue. All I know is that the latest Lemony Snicket series All the Wrong Questions is a work of clever references, skintight writing, and a deep sense of melancholy that mimics nothing else out there on the market for kids today. That's a good thing.
To be a success in Snicket’s line of work it’s important to know how to ask the right questions. And this is a problem since Snicket finds it difficult doing precisely that. He was supposed to meet his contact in the city. Instead, he finds himself whisked away to the country to a dying town called Stain’d-by-the-Sea. Once a bustling harbor, the town’s water was removed leaving behind a creepy seaweed forest and an ink business that won’t be around much longer. With his incompetent mentor S. Theodora Markson he’s there to solve the mystery of a stolen statue. Never mind that the statue wasn’t stolen, its owners don’t care who has it, and their client isn’t even a real person. When Snicket finds a girl looking for her father and learns the name of the insidious Hangfire things start to get interesting, not to mention dangerous. Can multiple mysteries be solved even if you keep following the wrong paths? Snicket’s about to find out.
What is more dangerous: Evil or stupidity? It’s a trick question since there’s nothing “or� about it. If there’s one lesson to be gleaned from the Snicket universe, it is that while evil is undesirable, stupidity is downright damaging. Many is the Series of Unfortunate Events book that would show clear as crystal that while stupid and ignorant people may not necessarily be evil in and of themselves, they do more to aid in evil than any routine bad guy ever could hope for. In All the Wrong Questions the adults in charge are still inane, but at least the kids have a bit of autonomy from them. Our hero, the young Snicket, is still omnipotent to a certain degree, and only cares to share personal information with the reader when the plot requires that he do so. And because the book is a mystery, he’s almost required to move about at will. He just happens to be moving between stupid people much of the time.
Of course the trouble with having Lemony himself as your protagonist is that the guy is infamous for never giving you good news. If adult Snicket is the kind of guy who warns off readers (in a voice that I’ve always connected to Ben Stein) because of his own sad worldview, reading this series means that we are going to see failure at work. We saw failure at work with the Baudelaires but with them it was always the fault of the universe using them as punching bags more than their own inadequacies. That means that the author’s trick with this book is to keep it from disintegrating into depression even as its hero ultimately screws up (yet seems to be doing the right thing the whole time). How do you pull this dichotomy off? Humor. Thank god for humor. Because like other post-modern children’s mysteries (Mac Barnett’s , most notably) being funny is the key to simultaneously referencing old mystery tropes while commenting on them.
I always had a certain amount of difficulty figuring out how exactly to describe A Series of Unfortunate Events. The term “Gothic� just didn’t quite cut it. PoMo Gothic, maybe. Or Meta-Gothic. Dunno. The All the Wrong Questions series makes it much easier on me. This book is noir. Noiry noir. Noiry noirish noirable noir. As if to confirm this the author drops in names like Dashiell and Mitchum, which like all of Snicket’s jokes will fly over the heads of all the child readers and 82.5% of the adult readers as well (I kept a tally for a while of the references I knew that I myself was not getting, then just sort of stopped after a while). There are dames, or at least the 12-year-old equivalent of dames. There are Girl Fridays. There are mistaken identities and creepy abandoned buildings. There are also butlers who do things, but that’s more of a drawing room murder mystery genre trope, so we���re going to disregard it here.
Let us talk Seth. The man comes to fill the shoes left by Brett Helquist. He’s a clever choice since there is nothing even slightly Helquistian to this comic legend. This is, to the best of my knowledge Seth’s first work for children, though there may well be some obscure Canadian work of juvenilia in his past that I’ve missed. His work on the cover is remarkable in and of itself, but in the book he works primarily in chapter headings and the occasional full-page layout. The author must have relayed to Mr. Seth what images to do sometimes because there is a picture at the beginning and a picture at the end that continue the story above and beyond the written portions. As for the spreads inside, Seth does an admirable job of ever concealing young Snicket’s face. He also lends a funny lightness to the proceedings, not something I would have expected walking into the novel.
There is a passage in the book where Snicket reflects on his life that just kills me. It comes a quarter of the way through the novel and is the clearest indication to the reader that the action in this novel happened a long time ago. It goes on for a while until finally ending with, “Stretched out in front of me was my time as an adult, and then a skeleton, and then nothing except perhaps a few books on a few shelves.� Put another way, this isn��t your average mystery novel for kids. It’s not even your average Lemony Snicket novel. It is what it is, the first part in a new series containing a familiar character that need not be previously known to readers. I have no idea if kids will gravitate towards it, but if you’ve a hankering to recommend a beautifully written if uncommon mystery to kids that ask for that sort of thing (and they do, man, they do) hand this over. Worse case scenario, they don’t like it. Best case scenario it blows their little minds. Blew mine anyway. Good stuff.
For ages 9-12.
To be a success in Snicket’s line of work it’s important to know how to ask the right questions. And this is a problem since Snicket finds it difficult doing precisely that. He was supposed to meet his contact in the city. Instead, he finds himself whisked away to the country to a dying town called Stain’d-by-the-Sea. Once a bustling harbor, the town’s water was removed leaving behind a creepy seaweed forest and an ink business that won’t be around much longer. With his incompetent mentor S. Theodora Markson he’s there to solve the mystery of a stolen statue. Never mind that the statue wasn’t stolen, its owners don’t care who has it, and their client isn’t even a real person. When Snicket finds a girl looking for her father and learns the name of the insidious Hangfire things start to get interesting, not to mention dangerous. Can multiple mysteries be solved even if you keep following the wrong paths? Snicket’s about to find out.
What is more dangerous: Evil or stupidity? It’s a trick question since there’s nothing “or� about it. If there’s one lesson to be gleaned from the Snicket universe, it is that while evil is undesirable, stupidity is downright damaging. Many is the Series of Unfortunate Events book that would show clear as crystal that while stupid and ignorant people may not necessarily be evil in and of themselves, they do more to aid in evil than any routine bad guy ever could hope for. In All the Wrong Questions the adults in charge are still inane, but at least the kids have a bit of autonomy from them. Our hero, the young Snicket, is still omnipotent to a certain degree, and only cares to share personal information with the reader when the plot requires that he do so. And because the book is a mystery, he’s almost required to move about at will. He just happens to be moving between stupid people much of the time.
Of course the trouble with having Lemony himself as your protagonist is that the guy is infamous for never giving you good news. If adult Snicket is the kind of guy who warns off readers (in a voice that I’ve always connected to Ben Stein) because of his own sad worldview, reading this series means that we are going to see failure at work. We saw failure at work with the Baudelaires but with them it was always the fault of the universe using them as punching bags more than their own inadequacies. That means that the author’s trick with this book is to keep it from disintegrating into depression even as its hero ultimately screws up (yet seems to be doing the right thing the whole time). How do you pull this dichotomy off? Humor. Thank god for humor. Because like other post-modern children’s mysteries (Mac Barnett’s , most notably) being funny is the key to simultaneously referencing old mystery tropes while commenting on them.
I always had a certain amount of difficulty figuring out how exactly to describe A Series of Unfortunate Events. The term “Gothic� just didn’t quite cut it. PoMo Gothic, maybe. Or Meta-Gothic. Dunno. The All the Wrong Questions series makes it much easier on me. This book is noir. Noiry noir. Noiry noirish noirable noir. As if to confirm this the author drops in names like Dashiell and Mitchum, which like all of Snicket’s jokes will fly over the heads of all the child readers and 82.5% of the adult readers as well (I kept a tally for a while of the references I knew that I myself was not getting, then just sort of stopped after a while). There are dames, or at least the 12-year-old equivalent of dames. There are Girl Fridays. There are mistaken identities and creepy abandoned buildings. There are also butlers who do things, but that’s more of a drawing room murder mystery genre trope, so we���re going to disregard it here.
Let us talk Seth. The man comes to fill the shoes left by Brett Helquist. He’s a clever choice since there is nothing even slightly Helquistian to this comic legend. This is, to the best of my knowledge Seth’s first work for children, though there may well be some obscure Canadian work of juvenilia in his past that I’ve missed. His work on the cover is remarkable in and of itself, but in the book he works primarily in chapter headings and the occasional full-page layout. The author must have relayed to Mr. Seth what images to do sometimes because there is a picture at the beginning and a picture at the end that continue the story above and beyond the written portions. As for the spreads inside, Seth does an admirable job of ever concealing young Snicket’s face. He also lends a funny lightness to the proceedings, not something I would have expected walking into the novel.
There is a passage in the book where Snicket reflects on his life that just kills me. It comes a quarter of the way through the novel and is the clearest indication to the reader that the action in this novel happened a long time ago. It goes on for a while until finally ending with, “Stretched out in front of me was my time as an adult, and then a skeleton, and then nothing except perhaps a few books on a few shelves.� Put another way, this isn��t your average mystery novel for kids. It’s not even your average Lemony Snicket novel. It is what it is, the first part in a new series containing a familiar character that need not be previously known to readers. I have no idea if kids will gravitate towards it, but if you’ve a hankering to recommend a beautifully written if uncommon mystery to kids that ask for that sort of thing (and they do, man, they do) hand this over. Worse case scenario, they don’t like it. Best case scenario it blows their little minds. Blew mine anyway. Good stuff.
For ages 9-12.
August 28, 2016
( 3.8 STARS )
It wasn't until I picked up this book that I realised how much I truly miss Lemony Snicket's writing! It's just so quirky and intriguing! The series of unfortunate events series were the books that properly got me into reading so I will forever be thankful to Snicket for that and it was so nice to be back in that world with this book!
I didn't know what to expect from this at all but I really did enjoy it! To be honest, I was worrying that I would be "too old" for this book but honestly I would never have labelled this book as a children's book!
Snicket is able to create fascinating characters and worlds so easily and he definitely did a good job of it in this book!
The plot was pretty gripping and the twists did take me by surprise so I'm looking forward to seeing the story unravel more over the next books.
It's just so nice to be reading Snicket again and I'm excited to see how the series of unfortunate events series ties in with this series!
It wasn't until I picked up this book that I realised how much I truly miss Lemony Snicket's writing! It's just so quirky and intriguing! The series of unfortunate events series were the books that properly got me into reading so I will forever be thankful to Snicket for that and it was so nice to be back in that world with this book!
I didn't know what to expect from this at all but I really did enjoy it! To be honest, I was worrying that I would be "too old" for this book but honestly I would never have labelled this book as a children's book!
Snicket is able to create fascinating characters and worlds so easily and he definitely did a good job of it in this book!
The plot was pretty gripping and the twists did take me by surprise so I'm looking forward to seeing the story unravel more over the next books.
It's just so nice to be reading Snicket again and I'm excited to see how the series of unfortunate events series ties in with this series!
dnf
April 26, 2020Dnf 30%
Δεν βγάζει κανένα νόημα, και ξέρω πως ούτε στο "A Series of Unfortunate Events" ήταν όλα ξεκάθαρα αλλά εδώ παραγίνεται. Συν ότι το παρακάνει με το "quirky" στυλ γραφής, και καταλήγει να είναι ενοχλητικό και όχι ευχάριστο. Δεν ήταν για μένα το συγκεκριμένο
Δεν βγάζει κανένα νόημα, και ξέρω πως ούτε στο "A Series of Unfortunate Events" ήταν όλα ξεκάθαρα αλλά εδώ παραγίνεται. Συν ότι το παρακάνει με το "quirky" στυλ γραφής, και καταλήγει να είναι ενοχλητικό και όχι ευχάριστο. Δεν ήταν για μένα το συγκεκριμένο
January 23, 2022
5 stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Such a cute read! Who Could That be at This Hour? is the perfect follow up to watching and/or reading A Series of Unfortunate Events. It has a similar tone, yet slightly less down-in-the-dumps subject matter, as suggested by the differing series titles (lol).
With enjoyable characters and a childlike, mysterious story, this book is a must for fans of Lemony Snicket's other writing! I will definitely be reading the next installation in the series.
| | | |
Such a cute read! Who Could That be at This Hour? is the perfect follow up to watching and/or reading A Series of Unfortunate Events. It has a similar tone, yet slightly less down-in-the-dumps subject matter, as suggested by the differing series titles (lol).
With enjoyable characters and a childlike, mysterious story, this book is a must for fans of Lemony Snicket's other writing! I will definitely be reading the next installation in the series.
| | | |
May 23, 2024
This is my favourite series. Snicket nails the film noir vibes and the mystery in this series is incredibly well-played. I love how cunningly he chooses every word, and how the series manages to both be incredibly deep and insightful, laugh-out-loud funny, and insanely suspenseful.
Even on my fourth (or fith?) time reading this, I love it intensely.
This is the series that sold me on the Middle-Grade genre, and it is still the finest work of Middle-Grade fiction I've ever read.
Go read it---if you dare brave a series full of Snicket-style mysteries and unanswered questions and horrible secrets.
Even on my fourth (or fith?) time reading this, I love it intensely.
This is the series that sold me on the Middle-Grade genre, and it is still the finest work of Middle-Grade fiction I've ever read.
Go read it---if you dare brave a series full of Snicket-style mysteries and unanswered questions and horrible secrets.
May 28, 2017
یه داستان دیگه از لمونی اسنیکت روانی و خواننده آزار. این مجموعه اش هم دقیقا مثل بچه های بدشانسه. این بار شخصیت اصلی داستان خود لمونی هست. لمونی اسنیکت 13 ساله در کتابی با فصل های سیزده تایی. گویا داستان قبل از وقایع بچه های بدشانسه و ابتدای داستان اسمی از وی اف دی هم برده شد. جلد اول بد نبود. تا ببینم در ادامه چی توی چنته داره
January 16, 2018
Oh, Lemony Snicket, you've lured me into reading yet another entertainingly written, but incredibly unsatisfying book. You'd think after being downright lividly irritated about the unanswered questions at the end of the Series of Unfortunate Events books (13 books of enticing clues and no answers! Who does that??? And with a children's series?), I would know better. But the cool illustrations and the promise of a relatively short 4-book series convinced me to pick this book up from the table at Costco. While I did enjoy the writing, I found the characters and story much less engaging than the Baudelaire children and their adventures. It remains to be seen if I will pick up the others in the series when they come out. Can someone please read them first and then let me know if anything is resolved? If not, I'm not wasting my time - there are just to many other great, satisfying books to read.
Originally read Oct 22-Nov 1 2012. Reread Nov 2017 now that I have access to all four books in the series via the library! Greatly enjoyed the writing style yet again - fingers crossed for a satisfying story arc across the books.
Originally read Oct 22-Nov 1 2012. Reread Nov 2017 now that I have access to all four books in the series via the library! Greatly enjoyed the writing style yet again - fingers crossed for a satisfying story arc across the books.
March 10, 2021
واو!
هیچ فکر نمی کردم مجموعه دیگه ای از لمونی اسنیکت انقدر بتونه بهم بچسبه، ولی چسبید! خدایا تنش!! من هیچوقت فکر نمی کردم کتاب دیگه ای بتونه به اندازه ماجراهای ناگوار بهم تنش داستانی بده. ولی این... با توجه به اینکه لمونی زندگیش به مراتب از یتیمای بودلر راحتتره تنش خیلی خیلی زیاد و خفنی داشت! این دردیه که من عاشقشم!
یه جورایی ماجراهای لمونی رو از وایولت و سانی و کلاوس بیشتر دوست دارم.چون برعکس اونا از همه چی بی خبر نیست ...
پ.ن:جلدش خیلی زیباست.
هیچ فکر نمی کردم مجموعه دیگه ای از لمونی اسنیکت انقدر بتونه بهم بچسبه، ولی چسبید! خدایا تنش!! من هیچوقت فکر نمی کردم کتاب دیگه ای بتونه به اندازه ماجراهای ناگوار بهم تنش داستانی بده. ولی این... با توجه به اینکه لمونی زندگیش به مراتب از یتیمای بودلر راحتتره تنش خیلی خیلی زیاد و خفنی داشت! این دردیه که من عاشقشم!
یه جورایی ماجراهای لمونی رو از وایولت و سانی و کلاوس بیشتر دوست دارم.چون برعکس اونا از همه چی بی خبر نیست ...
پ.ن:جلدش خیلی زیباست.
July 18, 2020
چرا دروغ یه جورایی ناامید شدم...
انتظار یچیزی تو مایه های جلدای آخر بچه های بدشانس داشتم بجاش یچیزی تو مایه های جلدای وسطی اونم بدون انسجام داستانی اونا تحویل گرفتم
پایانش هم که بشدت رو هوا ول بود انگار پایان اپیزود بود تا پایان یه کتاب
شاید دیگه بیش از اندازه واسه لمونی اسنیکت خوندن بزرگ شدم ولی این مجموعه رو تا آخر میخونم و امیدوارم بهتر بشه
انتظار یچیزی تو مایه های جلدای آخر بچه های بدشانس داشتم بجاش یچیزی تو مایه های جلدای وسطی اونم بدون انسجام داستانی اونا تحویل گرفتم
پایانش هم که بشدت رو هوا ول بود انگار پایان اپیزود بود تا پایان یه کتاب
شاید دیگه بیش از اندازه واسه لمونی اسنیکت خوندن بزرگ شدم ولی این مجموعه رو تا آخر میخونم و امیدوارم بهتر بشه
February 12, 2013
Anyone who, like me, had enjoyed reading “A Series of Unfortunate Events� will be thrilled to learn that Lemony Snicket has embarked on writing a prequel to it. “Who Could That Be At This Hour?� is the first book in a new series titled “All The Wrong Questions�.
We are introduced to Lemony Snicket, a near 13-year-old, who was recruited as a neophyte to an enigmatic secret society and sent on his first mission to investigate the case of a missing statue. It was an investigation calculated to frustrate the protagonist-investigator from the get-go.
A large part of the pleasure of reading this noir detective story is being taken on a journey where the landscape abounds in strangeness: a gray town paved by seashells though the sea has vanished, a forest composed of seaweeds instead of trees, and an abandoned coffee joint that still dispensed coffee and baked bread at the press of a button. What fun!
Snicket plays the victim-detective who quickly endears himself to the reader alongside a stellar cast of bizarre characters. My favorite is the pair of prepubescent brothers who provided the town’s only taxi service (one worked the pedals; the other the steering wheel!). The one character I’ll like to chortle is Snicket’s imperious and imbecile chaperone. Other quirky characters include Moxie, the self-proclaimed teenage journalist of a defunct newspaper and Ellington, the elusive girl with green eyes and question-mark eye brows.
As in the Unfortunate Events, there is the familiar, ludicrous world of interminable puzzles. Even as the last page is turned, the jigsaw pieces do not add up. In Snicket’s own words, “The map is not the territory�. This just about sums it up. There is something going on that we can’t see. And see I must, which is not good news. It means the start of me feverishly chasing more “messy mysteries� or “mysterious mess�.
We are introduced to Lemony Snicket, a near 13-year-old, who was recruited as a neophyte to an enigmatic secret society and sent on his first mission to investigate the case of a missing statue. It was an investigation calculated to frustrate the protagonist-investigator from the get-go.
A large part of the pleasure of reading this noir detective story is being taken on a journey where the landscape abounds in strangeness: a gray town paved by seashells though the sea has vanished, a forest composed of seaweeds instead of trees, and an abandoned coffee joint that still dispensed coffee and baked bread at the press of a button. What fun!
Snicket plays the victim-detective who quickly endears himself to the reader alongside a stellar cast of bizarre characters. My favorite is the pair of prepubescent brothers who provided the town’s only taxi service (one worked the pedals; the other the steering wheel!). The one character I’ll like to chortle is Snicket’s imperious and imbecile chaperone. Other quirky characters include Moxie, the self-proclaimed teenage journalist of a defunct newspaper and Ellington, the elusive girl with green eyes and question-mark eye brows.
As in the Unfortunate Events, there is the familiar, ludicrous world of interminable puzzles. Even as the last page is turned, the jigsaw pieces do not add up. In Snicket’s own words, “The map is not the territory�. This just about sums it up. There is something going on that we can’t see. And see I must, which is not good news. It means the start of me feverishly chasing more “messy mysteries� or “mysterious mess�.
September 25, 2015
Actual Rating 3.5
I, like many other people, loved The Series of Unfortunate Events as a child so when I found out that this series would be a prequel of sorts, I was PUMPED. It only took me a couple years to getting around to reading the first book in this prequel series.
Lemony Snicket is probably one of my favorite characters ever so the fact that this series is all about a younger him made me really happy! I couldn’t wait to get inside his mind and see if he was just as awesome when he was younger. The answer to that is yes. However, this book just didn’t live up to the awesomeness of The Series of Unfortunate Events. The mystery element wasn’t as satisfying and I felt like it didn’t challenge me as much as The Series of Unfortunate Events did. There were also times when the book just jumped around in ways that didn’t work for me.
Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the book and it had me cracking up at several parts but it really doesn’t even begin to compare with The Series of Unfortunate Events.
One of the reasons this book probably didn’t blow my mind was because in some ways, all I really did was compare this book to The Series of Unfortunate Events and everyone knows that that’s probably not a good idea.
Who Could be At This Hour was a very fun read with an enjoyable mystery but one that didn’t challenge me so I was left feeling a little disappointed but I still plan on picking up the rest of the books in the series. I gots to have more of Lemony Snicket!
I, like many other people, loved The Series of Unfortunate Events as a child so when I found out that this series would be a prequel of sorts, I was PUMPED. It only took me a couple years to getting around to reading the first book in this prequel series.
Lemony Snicket is probably one of my favorite characters ever so the fact that this series is all about a younger him made me really happy! I couldn’t wait to get inside his mind and see if he was just as awesome when he was younger. The answer to that is yes. However, this book just didn’t live up to the awesomeness of The Series of Unfortunate Events. The mystery element wasn’t as satisfying and I felt like it didn’t challenge me as much as The Series of Unfortunate Events did. There were also times when the book just jumped around in ways that didn’t work for me.
Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the book and it had me cracking up at several parts but it really doesn’t even begin to compare with The Series of Unfortunate Events.
One of the reasons this book probably didn’t blow my mind was because in some ways, all I really did was compare this book to The Series of Unfortunate Events and everyone knows that that’s probably not a good idea.
Who Could be At This Hour was a very fun read with an enjoyable mystery but one that didn’t challenge me so I was left feeling a little disappointed but I still plan on picking up the rest of the books in the series. I gots to have more of Lemony Snicket!
February 24, 2023
Any book was written by Snicket is amazing, so of course was no exception. Loved the crossovers from the ASOUE series. A quick, easy read <3
October 22, 2015
The story was interesting, and I didn't see the ending coming! I enjoyed it, though I would've expected more from one of my favourite authors.
April 29, 2022
The first book in a series full of suspense and mystery tells the tale of nearly 13 year old Lemony Snicket and his incompetent handler, S. Theodora Markson, on a mission from a secret organization to solve a crime in the quirky town of Stain'd-by-the-Sea. Snicket slowly gathers a crew of talented youth and deals with clueless adults while on the hunt for the statue of the Bombinating Beast. Nothing is what it seems and everyone seems to be asking all the wrong questions. Readers that want a series unraveling a conspiracy will become hooked by the first book in this four part series. Fans of A Series of Unfortunate Events will feel right at home.
- Reviewed by Nate G.
- Reviewed by Nate G.
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