Author: Kiersten White
Genre: mystery/humor
Similar books: A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
Rating:
Summary (provided by publisher): Meet the Sinister-Winterbottoms: brave Theo, her timid twin, Alexander, and their older sister, Wil. They’re stuck for the summer with their Aunt Saffronia, who doesn’t know how often children need to eat and can’t use a smartphone, and whose feet never quite seem to touch the floor when she glides—er—walks.
When Aunt Saffronia suggests a week pass to the Fathoms of Fun Waterpark, they hastily agree. But the park is even stranger than Aunt Saffronia. The waterslides look like gray gargoyle tongues. The employees wear creepy black dresses and deliver ominous messages. An impossible figure is at the top of the slide tower, people are disappearing, and suspicious goo is seeping into the wave pool.
Something mysterious is happening at Fathoms of Fun, and it’s up to the twins to get to the bottom of it. The mystery, that is. NOT the wave pool. Definitely NOT the wave pool. But are Theo and Alexander out of their depth?
My opinion: White follows the pathway that Lemony Snicket laid, presenting the reader with odd scenarios that the characters largely accept as simply the way the world works. There is a larger mystery at play that is certain to be further revealed as the series progresses but this volume has a complete story all it's own. While that mystery/adventure is a fairly wild one, it never takes itself too seriously so we don't question the logic of events. While it lacks the pseudo-serious tone of Snicket's series, it has a charm all it's own. If your reader has worked through A Series of Unfortunate Events give Sinister Summer a try.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
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