The Name of This Book Is Secret

I had pretty high hopes for this book. It often gets compared (rightly) to Series of Unfortunate Events and I loved the beginning of that series. Everything Unfortunate Events had right, this book has wrong. The intelligent and quirky children are forgettable. Neither of the main characters struck me as someone I'd want to be friends with. The interrupting narrator, which I quite enjoyed in Unfortunate Events, seemed gimmicky and annoying in this book. The mystery is so-so; I never quite cared whether or not they solved it. I always felt Lemony Snicket was just twisted enough to let bad things befall his characters at the end of the book so I often worried about them. I never found myself getting concerned for the characters in Secret. All in all, a pretty disappointing read. Perhaps kids who got hooked on Snicket will enjoy this series, and if it motivates them to read that's excellent and my opinion of the book doesn't matter.