Who Could That Be at This Hour? by Lemony Snicket

Pages: 258

Intended Audience: Tweens

Genre: Mystery

Notes for Parents: There is nothing of note that parents need to worry about.

The Back Cover

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 really think that’s any of your business? Why? What kind of person are you? Are you sure?
4. Who is that standing behind you?

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

The cover certainly doesn’t tell you very much! This is the first book in a series called All the Wrong Questions. It’s said to be a prequel to the Series of Unfortunately Events series and follows a young Lemony Snicket after he’s recruited into an unnamed organization and sent on his first mission.

What’s good?

It’s short, easy to read, and even has pictures! The setting, a seaside town that’s no longer by the sea, is charmingly quaint. The characters, most with eccentric names like Moxie Mallahan and Ellington Feint, are quirky and likeable. The story itself is clearly a parody of an old detective novel and reads with a sense of doom and peculiarity that made the author’s other series such a success.

Best Part: Pip & Squeak

What isn’t good?

The amount of repetitive phrasing annoyed me to the point that I didn’t care what the S. stood for in S. Theodora Markson, or what a particular word meant in a particular situation. While I was amused with the taxi driving Pip & Squeak, and the abandoned coffee shop that still served coffee and bread, the story as a whole was a stream of nonsense that culminated in an ending that resolved absolutely nothing.

Worst part:  The end.

Recommendation þoooo

This was my first Lemony Snicket book and I was not impressed. What should have felt mysterious just felt vague and what was supposed to be clever was more often confusing or silly. I can only imagine that the successful Series of Unfortunate Events must have had more depth. Fans of his other books may be more tolerable of his style and enjoy this more than I did.

Snicket, Lemony. Who Could That Be at This Hour? Toronto: HarperCollins, 2012.