The Secret
Files of Phineas Foster - G. B.
GurlandPublication date: October 31st 2016
Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
Format: ebook, 133 pages
How I got it: Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd for an honest review
Buy it: Amazon
My rating: 4/5
Almost thirteen-year-old Gabriel Marx struggles with just about everything, from school, to relationships, to navigating between his divorced parents. He arrives in New York City for his annual summer visit with his attorney father who finds himself caught up in the mystery surrounding the murder of one of his clients. It is not long before Gabe finds himself smack in the middle of the intrigue and more determined than ever to prove himself to his dad.
Gabe encounters various players in the unraveling mystery, learns to trust the friendship of eleven-year-old Alex, and that of the renowned, but now discredited, Professor Phineas Foster. Twists and turns and seeming coincidences reveal previously unknown family history and harrowing choices for Gabe.
Will the children solve the murder? Will their determination lead to the truth? Will the professor be vindicated? Will the scoundrels who sought to corrupt the professor's lifelong work be brought to justice?
..............................................................................
My thoughts:
This is a
middle grade book.
This story
follows Gabe who is traveling from CA to NY to stay with his Dad. Gabe’s mother is a little over protective and
nervous about him flying by himself. On
the flight in Gabe sits next to P. J. Foster who is a famous inventor. Gabe doesn’t realize who the man is at first,
but when he leaves a notebook he figures it out. Gabe starts to hunt him down
he gets himself into a bit of a mess while attempting to find the inventor.
Gabe is a
great main character. He has trouble
focusing in school and is always going from one thing to the next so focusing
on this challenge is the perfect thing for him.
I like that he realizes he is struggling with school, but doesn’t know
how to fix it. Also, I like that both of
his parents although separated you can tell feel a great deal for him and want
him to succeed in everything he does. I
liked that we got to see the perspective of Gabe as well as both of his parents
during the book.
I enjoyed
how the entire cast of characters all became related while you are reading the
book. We have Gabe’s parents, but also
then Gabe’s dad driver Peter and district attorney’s daughter Alex becomes involved. Also, P.J. Foster has some family that all
come together and are connected. The
author doesn’t reveal how everyone is connected right away.
The story
flowed very naturally to me it was a complete adventure almost right when you
start reading. I enjoyed how everything
pieced together while I was reading.
The author also did a great job setting up the action scenes since the
entire book has a lot of action it was important to keep the story moving along. The author can setup what is going on as well
as provide us with enough details so we can visualize what is happening.
My major complaint
with the story is there are so many POV’s that the story is being told with it
was hard to follow along. It would
switch mid chapter and it almost felt like mid-sentence to another point of
view and sometimes I couldn’t keep up. I
wish that either the POV switched by chapter or there was some way to distinguish
what was going on.
I would
suggest this as a nighttime read. I felt
there were a lot of natural stopping points that I could put the book down and
pick it back up. Also, it allowed me to
digest what was going on.
I received
a copy of this book from Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd to provide an honest
review. This does not affect my opinion
of this book.
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