All the Wrong Questions, Book 3
Lemony Snicket is nearly 13 years old as this series unfolds, a series that serves as a dark prequel to the more popular Series of Unfortunate Events. As happened in Book 1, Who Could That Be at This Hour? And Book 2, When Did You Last See Her, Book 3 takes young Snicket down a dangerous path and into an investigation where he happens to be asking all the wrong questions.
In this third installment, Lemony gets to know the townsfolk better and becomes more aware of Mr. Hangfire’s treachery (and if you read Lemony Snicket at all and don’t come away saying words like “treachery” and “villainy,” then you’re just not reading the books correctly). Of particular enjoyment are Harvey and Mini Mitchem, the law-enforcement duo of Stain’d-by-the-Sea, who seem to be in rare form throughout the book.
The danger here is both kidnapping and arson, the latter of which is a familiar crime to readers of Snicket. It’s arson that has killed many members of the V.F.D., which is why those letters stand for what they do! The arson in this book is all a ruse for Hangfire to get at the children, however, and we readers are finally clued in to some of the secrets of the famously secretive V.F.D.
These books are short, and I suppose that’s a ploy to get kids reading, but I can’t help but think (as an avid reader) that, were this a series meant for teens or adults, I’d be annoyed at the 4-parter which ought to all be combined simply into one full book! I’ve been coming across that issue lately with lots of series that really shouldn’t be series at all (as I mentioned in a review for Bobby Akart’s Yellowstone series). It may just be my preference, but I figure that if people are paying for each of these books (and not getting them from library like we’ve been doing), then it’s really a greedy ploy by the publishers more than anything and unfair to the readers! If I’m wrong, forgive me.
We’re looking forward to the concluding Part 4 of this series, when Snicket finds himself asking: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” We’re dying to find out!
©2023 E.T.