Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Steve Brixton Sleuths Again!

And that's good news for guy readers! I was a BIG fan of the first book, The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity, written by Mac Barnett with terrific illustrations by Adam Rex. (see my review here) So I was very excited to hear about The Ghostwriter Secret, the second one!

Steve Brixton has read and reread and reread all 58 of the Bailey Brothers mysteries. He's such a fan that, when he finds himself in the middle of a real mystery, he tries to do what the Bailey Brothers would have done. Now he has set up his own detective agency. In fact, he gets a case right away-a chance to track down the missing Fairchild diamond. But in the middle of it, he gets a letter from MacArthur Bart, the author of the Bailey Brothers mysteries, saying that he's in trouble and needs Steve's help! Can Steve and his best chum Dana rescue the missing author? Who has torn up Steve's crime lab? Why do they leave a note telling them to stay away from MacArthur Bart? And just what is a solar plexus anyway?? You won't know if you don't read this book!!

I liked this one a lot. Did I like it as much as the first one? Well, yes and no. This one was a much better mystery. I figured out the first one long before the end and The Ghostwriter Secret had plenty of surprises. This one did not have all the outrageous action and humor of the first one but, to be fair, it would have been very hard to match the first one. After all, that one had librarians who knew 7 kinds of martial arts, Steve being chased by a bookmobile and escaping from the locked hold of a Chinese freighter! But this one also has plenty of action and humor and I'd recommend it to any guy reader out there.

Now the BIG question is--will there be another Brixton Brothers book??

Welllllllll........

You'll just have to read this one to find out!!!!!!!

Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 comments:

Mr. S said...

I love the Brixton Brothers. I think what pushes them beyond other kid detective series is the danger. Commando librarians? Getting shot at? Steve solves real mysteries, with real dangers.

I think Mac Barnett has a lot of fun writing them, too. He gets to write in a different style for the old Bailey Brothers stories.

I can't wait for the third!

We're reading Book 1 in our Guys Read club in a few months.

I've visited your blog a few times. Keep up the fun work!

MotherReader said...

Oh, I have that first book at home! I totally forgot about it until I saw it here, but now I'll move it to the top of my TBR list.

Iron Guy Carl said...

You'll enjoy it, MotherReader. Tell us what you think. BTW, if you go to the "author interviews" link on the Quick Links section of the left-hand side of the page, you can find our interview with Mac Barnett!

Charlotte said...

I should try these brothers on my own boys! Thanks for the nudge to do so!

Iron Guy Carl said...

Oh, yeah, your boys would definitely enjoy them. If they do, ask them to write in. (As a matter of fact, I'll let you in on a secret--I'll run a giveaway contest from Feb. 1-14 for boys who write in the most reviews. Look for a post on Feb. 1.Might be a good time to write about Brixton Bros.)