(Game Grumps) The Secret of the Grande Chateau: YA Fiction Analysis
Cover and Campaign
Ghost Hunters Adventure Club and The Secret of the Grande Chateau is a special book for two reasons:
- It's a tribute to the classic YA and children's mystery novels published between the 1930s-1980s (roughly).
- Its marketing campaign is unorthodox.
With a mere glance at the cover, it's easy for anyone familiar with YA books of the kid detective era to recognize how much The Secret of the Grande Chateau resembles Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and The Three Investigators, for example. From the vibrant color choices to the various font styles to the character poses, this book has a strong essence of nostalgia.
I do have two issues with the cover, however. There is no snow depicted on the cover when the book repeatedly states that the location is snowy; the second sentence of the first page specifies "snowy pavement" and a big storm occurs later on when the trio ventures outside. The other thing is that, while I love that they added to the nostalgia by having drawings of the characters and scenes throughout the book, the cover design of the trio depicts them as a mature 16-18 years old; the drawings give them the look of 14 or 15-year-olds, but I can't see the hotel hiring someone at that age, so they must be a little older. I feel the drawings should have been a little more defined. Moreover, I'm still a bit confused about their ages when we see Trudi investigating alone and using sound effects because she thinks it makes her a better detective (43). Given our introduction to her shows her as a serious detective, I find this quirk is out of place for someone her age and with her personality. I understand that characters have depth, and her having her own soundtrack (43) works, but not this quirk. Children run around making fake shooting sounds like in the LEGOs movies, not employed teens.
As for the peculiar marketing campaign that surrounded the book's release, it seems that Arin Hanson of the Game Grumps is the original author, but took on the persona of a fictitious uncle named Dr. Cecil H. H. Mills to publish and promote the book. While Carolyn Keene and Franklin W. Dixon were just pseudonyms, Dr. Mills is much more. I wonder if this was done in the spirit of The Three Investigators since Alfred Hitchcock was originally associated with this trio and was a character who interacted with them in the books. Dr. Mills does so in a similar vein, however, he admits that it's all happening in his head (94), so while the boys know Dr. Mills and speak to him, they don't exist, just as Dr. Mills doesn't exist.
Here is a video that provides the basics surrounding the book's marketing:
I will say that readers of this book would benefit from watching some Game Grumps videos to understand Arin and his friends' humor. At 7:41, you can listen to the theme song for the (series? duology?) sung by the talented Dan Avidan, the current Game Grump who's "not so grump." The song has the same 80s sound as Dan's Ninja Sex Party albums. Arin has been involved in various NSP songs and sometimes only his character image is included in the animated music videos.
Summary
A writer named Wallace P. Gross asks the Ghost Hunters Adventure Club to come to the Grande Chateau where he's working on his next book. He gives them a brief tour of the hotel and grounds where the "brothers" meet Wallace's ex-wife, Marcella, who has a sharp tongue and it appears there is no love lost between them. Wallace explains to the brothers that a ghost has been watching him for the past three years while he worked on his manuscript and investigated the Chateau's rumored treasure. He is murdered soon afterward.
Deputy Park is called, but since he makes assumptions and doesn't investigate properly, the Watt brothers and the hotel's receptionist, Trudi de la Rosa, take it upon themselves to solve the case. The teen sleuths race against the clock as the snowstorm rages outside and a killer (or killers) is on the loose in the chateau looking for its treasure.
-- Spoilers --
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| Photo by Alana Harris on Unsplash |
Characters
J. J. Watts: Leader of the Ghost Hunters Adventure Club; has short black hair, brown eyes and detached earlobes (Dr. Mills says in the introduction that J. J. has a scar across the bridge of his nose, but it's never mentioned or referenced in the story, only shown on both Book 1 and 2's covers); is a smooth talker, manipulator and promoter of the club; can think fast on his feet and is focused on making money.
Valentine Watts: The second member of the Ghost Hunters Adventure Club; is pretending to be J. J.'s brother; has short blonde hair, blues eyes, glasses; has the decency to cringe when making a fake book pitch about a woman with three breasts (55); is more justice-oriented than J. J.
Trudi de la Rosa: Receptionist of the Grande Chateau; mystery-lover; uses deductive reasoning; adds sound effects and a soundtrack to her investigating sometimes (Ã la Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove).
Deputy Park: The stereotypical semi-dumb police officer who has a history with the Watt brothers and does minimal investigating; has a fear of ghosts and paranormal activity; knows how to karate chop.
Dr. Cecil H. H. Mills: Author and uncle persona of Arin Hanson; has frazzled gray hair that stands on end and wears a bowtie.
Wallace P. Gross: Same physical description as Dr. Cecil H. H. Mills; famous author; ex-husband to Marcella; smokes tobacco.
Marcella P. Gross: ex-wife to Wallace; romantically involved with Thad; used to solve Wallace's puzzles while married.
Thad Newbury: Wallace P. Gross's literary agent; is the stereotypical sleaze with long white hair pulled back in a ponytail, seemingly always wears sunglasses (even indoors), tends to walk around naked or wear a towel in the hotel and likes the fake book pitch of a woman with three breasts (55).
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| Photo by Tom Fisk |
The Watts Boys and Unanswered Questions
Those who have read The Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew or any of these types of amateur sleuth books know that the protagonists' background is given within the first few paragraphs of the first chapter. Frank and Joe live with their private detective father, Fenton, and their Aunt Trudy. Joe is 17 or 15 and Frank is 18 years old or 16 years old, depending on the edition. Nancy lives with her lawyer father, Carson, and their housekeeper and mother figure, Hannah, since her mother died when she was quite young; I think her age has varied, sometimes she was 3, other times 5 years old). Nancy is 18 years old.
Nothing about the family or families of J. J. and Valentine is mentioned.
The boys say various things about themselves throughout the book, but how much can be trusted since the ghost hunting business seems to be a front for stealing or manipulating situations to gain free stuff? Despite the previous cases they were involved in, they admit (when alone together) that they never cracked them; it was dumb luck or a coincidence. Their identities are also called into question (though "Dr. Mills" suggests to readers in the Introduction that the brothers may not be brothers at all) when Trudi calls them out since they bear no resemblance to one another. It seems the author is playing with readers since the boys are a mash-up of the Three Investigators (who are not related to each other) and the Hardy Boys (who are biological brothers). While investigating and arguing, J. J. tells Trudi that their first names aren't real (162) and Valentine is legitimately hurt that J. J. "gave away" his name to Trudi (167).
Names
While looking at their names, I realized "Trudi" could be a reference to the Hardy Boys' aunt who has a different spelling (it's short for "Gertrude"). The trio has very American names from the 1930s-50s time period, I find. "Trudi" and "Valentine" both have meanings associated to strength (I find this connection interesting). J. J., I think, is a reference to Jupiter Jones of the Three Investigators since Wikipedia says that his parents died and were ballroom dancers. Chapter 12 is dedicated to solving a puzzle in the ballroom with J. J. literally taking the lead as he performs various dances with and without a partner. Also, "Three Investigators" mentions Jupiter giving business cards to people, which is something J. J. does when first arriving at the hotel (5). Valentine may be based off of Peter Crenshaw from what is written on "Three Investigators," since it mentions how Pete does not like dangerous situations and points out Jupiter's faults, both of which we see after the trio have escaped from the sniper (161).
One fact we're given is that the boys' hometown is close to the chateau, which is Harborville (a play on the Hardy's Boys' Bayville, I would think). Deputy Park mentions names of past cases where the boys were involved. I'm not sure about two of the three mentioned, but the "Abandoned Old Mill" (16) made me think of the third Hardy Boys book The Secret of the Old Mill. We also realize that J. J. is a con artist, which is later confirmed when he and Valentine argue (161).
J. J. gives Trudi the Ghost Hunters Adventure Club Field Manual that he made himself. I have a feeling that this is a reference to The Hardy Boys Detective Handbook. It provides various detective and police techniques for the budding sleuth, just as the manual helps Trudi while she investigates.
Stories
I like how the brothers have wild stories ready to go when they need to apologize for one another, just like your average siblings or travelling companions.
"'Let me apologize for my brother,' said Valentine, jumping between the two. 'He was raised by wild animals and failed out of finishing school because he started a fight club'" (6).
"J. J. accepted the woman's hand. 'Please excuse my brother's manners, ma'am. He was a transitory circus performer during his formative years'" (7).
This sort of banter reminded me the 1970s Hardy Boys with Sean Cassidy and Parker Stevenson.
Coat of Arms
I would love to know the background of the coat of arms that is used for the club. It raises so many questions! How did the Watt boys come up with it? What does each element stand for? Since they're a Ghost Hunters club, why is there a skull with a third eye drawn on it in a triangle? Why does the skull have horns? To me, the skull suggests a much deeper paranormal investigation service than mere ghosts. Page 202 has the largest image of it, which is how I can see what the marking on the skull is. I'm also curious as to what the surrounding entity is; it gives the impression of dried plant leaves. Why use this in the coat of arms? It’s more a symbol of the occult than for a teen sleuthing group.
I also wish the coat of arms appeared in the story itself, either in a drawing or a description.
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| Photo by Yick Chom Lam |
Trudi, Nancy Drew and Velma Dinkley
We also don't know anything about Trudi's background. We can speculate that she's of Spanish or Portuguese-descent based on her name.
I am an avid Nancy Drew fan (when she and her world are portrayed well), so I noticed the parallel between Trudi's role and Nancy's history. While many may remember the first Nancy Drew book cover of her in her green mod dress and 60s-styled hairdo with the mantle clock beside her, Book 2: The Hidden Staircase seems to be the more popular of the two. For example, there was a 2019 remake of The Hidden Staircase with an early teen Nancy and the video game company, HeR Interactive, made a game based on the first four books of the classic series. Nancy's pose on Book 2's cover is iconic, so I was thrilled to see the artist included a drawing of Trudi as an homage to The Hidden Staircase.
And I did not forget the cover's appearance. The spine is yellow just like the classic Nancy Drew books, specifically the 1960s-70s editions.
Trudi also has several characteristics of another well-known mystery solver: Velma Dinkley of the Scooby gang. She's knowledgeable of the castle's history, which was the classic role of Velma during investigations; she always sought out the lore and history of the mystery's location. Trudi also wears glasses and uses deductive reasoning while investigating. Velma is famous for losing her glasses and is often the one to solve the mystery, providing the explanation at the end. Trudi also proves herself to be an intellectual, like Velma. For example, Trudi's word choice when describing the chateau's owner is striking, "...and dies in his own private Xanadu" (33). What a strange word for a contemporary teenager to use. I imagine she's read Coleridge, which is the source for the word "Xanadu" since we're introduced to her engrossed in one of Wallace P. Gross's novels. Why else would the author has chosen that word? The movie has no relation to the book as far as I can see, and it's not a word commonly used, I don't think.
Another similarity to the Scooby gang (this may be a stretch) is that Trudi's hotel uniform is reminiscent of Shaggy's outfit: a green top and brown bottoms, except Trudi has a brown belt with the skirt part of her dress in a darker shade of green or black (hard to tell from the cover).
True to the Nancy Drew spirit, Trudi chooses a life of danger, intrigue and mystery-solving, despite almost dying in a room filled to the top with sand (200) mere hours (?) before. Of course, if you'd seen the cover of the second book as I had before reading the first one, you'd know she chooses to join the Watts boys.
Other Detectives
Sherlock Holmes is mentioned twice in the novel: when J. J. sarcastically calls Valentine "Sherlock" and Valentine corrects J. J. at breakfast about the type of eggs the great detective would eat. J. J. also introduces Valentine in the same manner as Holmes, who often introduces Watson as his "friend and colleague." For example, upon arriving at the hotel, J. J. introduces Valentine to Trudi as his "brother and close confidant," (5).
Chapter 9 was a fun one. The drawing of J. J. in front of the hotel patrons with his hand pointed up made me think of Clue/Cluedo when you make your suggestions. J. J. even confesses to relishing his time in reproducing a classic Agatha Christie-like accusation (82).
And unexpectedly, Dr. Mills mentions that he writes his books on a Remington Elitra typewriter (93), which I don't think is a coincidence since it is from a Remington typewriter that Laura Holt named her detective-employer Remington Steele on the TV show of the same name.
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| Photo by Francesco Ungaro |
Classic Mystery Elements
Going into a mystery book, even one written as a parody, I never want to assume I'll solve it before the end (after all, some writers withhold information so the reader can't figure it out). But the accomplice stood out since I picked up on the clues the author left. Valentine notices someone like a groundskeeper shovelling snow to a distant shed (10) and much later, after the trio know someone is in the underground labyrinth, the groundskeeper is noted as having dirty hands when J. J. is making his grand accusation (80). It's the middle of a snowstorm at that point and a conservatory wasn't mentioned as being part of the hotel, so he's obviously digging for the treasure. Now, having watched almost all the Scooby-Doo shows and movies, the culprit could have been the groundskeeper, but there was a high chance that he was just the accomplice doing the literal dirty work. What other prominent character is there who would know the history of the treasure as well as the secret passages? The hotelier. I mean, "Dr. Mills" could have featured the Bostonian bartender much more to make her a red herring, but as it stands, it fits the Scooby-Doo formula perfectly.
Adding to that, the ending is that of a classic kid's mystery where the culprit's last words are the clichéd: "You haven't seen the last of me... I'll get you if it's the last thing I'll do!" (197). I half-expected the "meddling kids" retort.
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| Photo by cottonbro |
Clichés
Now for the mystery lover, clichés aren't a bad thing if they are done well and fit the story. The mystery takes place in a chateau designed over a hundred years prior for the entertainment of "the wealthy elite and urban socialites" (9), so it absolutely should have secret passageways, whether for the staff or the guests.
Given that our protagonists are budding sleuths and ghost hunters, they should be snooping around. It's like the fourth Nancy Drew game, Treasure in the Royal Tower (TRT), where one person (the player as Nancy) has a ton of ground to cover and playing it for the first time means you're going to get confused about where your room is and how to get to the library, etc. The number of floors and hallways can cause disorientation. In The Secret of the Grande Chateau, despite the running joke that the chateau is "regular-sized" (3), it's still a gigantic place for even three sleuths to go through when attempting to solve a case. Moreover, any mystery lover has a lot of curiosity, which means they would love to investigate a guest's room given the chance. That's one complaint that players of TRT have; while we're given permission by Professor Hotchkiss to investigate her hotel room, we aren't ever given the location of Lisa's room (she's the only other guest). We're allowed to look at her locker, but it's too small a space to be satisfying. However, in the book, it's incredibly satisfying to have one scene where J. J. and Trudi snoop through Thad's room. There's even a little tension since their time depends on Valentine distracting Thad.
TRT shares the "snowed in after a crime was committed" cliché with The Secret of the Grande Chateau. It's one that elicits a cozy and, in the trio's case, a high stakes environment since they're dealing with a killer instead of just a vandal and thief. The movies, Clue and Murder by Death, have a little more in common with the book since they both feature a manor on a stormy night that is locked for a time while all the guests try to find the killer.
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| Photo by Gaspar Zaldo |
Lock-picking is a major skill sleuths require. I remember it being in the Hardy's Boys Detective Handbook. Nancy even uses this skill in at least two games (including the awful Midnight in Salem) and she uses her pass card in two others. So, it was nice to see that J. J. had the tools for it. However, I didn't get the running joke of never needing them since no one locks their doors. I mean, once or twice, fine, but it seemed odd that there was no explanation given. It was a good cliché, but the parody tainted it.
The cliché of being knocked over the head has been overused in mystery novels and it's an unrealistic way of getting the sleuth or detective out of the picture for a while. The victims of traumatic brain injuries, including the Hardy Boys, Nancy and J. J., should visit a hospital, but they never do. They are always in perfect health or maybe suffering from a headache, which is a bad message to send to kids. This omission is highlighted in the 27th Nancy Drew game, The Deadly Device, where Deirdre tells Nancy that she should apply for clinical testing since she's been hit over the head so much in the game's universe. In fact, Nancy is hit over the head in TRT as well as in the seventh game, Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake where, like J. J., she actually does awaken tied up in a shed.
Lastly, the scavenger hunt is another beloved cliché of the classic mystery. The treasure is usually the motive for other crimes or ghostly occurrences to stop people from looking for the treasure. Detective Barbie 2: The Vacation Mystery is a bit like that where Barbie goes on a scavenger hunt to find the original owner's treasure while trying to catch the "shadowy figure." While Ken and Becky are with Barbie, making up a crime-solving trio, Ken doesn't do much aside from be your competition at the sport-related minigames and Becky only talks to the player via the crime computer. Barbie and the player do all the sleuthing and puzzle-solving. "Dr. Mills" provides foreshadowing that there is no treasure by having J. J. make that his goal in solving the case instead of seeking justice for the murdered author. However, I do like that "Dr. Mills" turns the cliché on its head and the ending is satisfying. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but it could also be a reference to the classic Nancy Drew series where most of the time, Nancy is not compensated for her sleuth work.
I will say that I think Hanson missed an opportunity to add ghost scenes portrayed by the two culprits, instead of our trio pretending to be ghosts in the library to get Deputy Park out of the room (113-115). Wallace P. Gross hired them because he thought there was a ghost (12), but this angle is quickly dropped for the rest of the book. The group is called "Ghost Hunters," but it seemed irrelevant and out of place for this story.
GG Easter Eggs
As someone who has recently started watching some of their content, I noticed two Game Grump-related Easter Eggs.
- J. J. provides the hotel with a false credit card number ending in 6969. While the average reader may not think anything of it or simply snicker at the mention of the "sex numbers," it may be a reference to Dan Avidan's song "6969" from Ninja Sex Party.
- Like Trudi's use of "Xanadu," J. J. uses an odd phrase when calling Dr. Mills from the tool shed: "You sure as Susie know what I'm calling you about" (137). The spelling is different, but I think this is supposed to be a reference to Arin's wife, Suzy. However, this is the kind of phrase a teen from the 50s would use, but I don't think it was executed realistically. I find it's unlikely for J. J., who's in a stressful situation, to use a tongue-twister. To go from a "sh" sound to a "ss" sound with only one word in between struck me as odd. It's more likely he'd say "You sure as Shelly know." People are more likely to stick to alliteration, such as "No shit, Sherlock." Maybe that's just me.
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| Photo by Keira Burton |
"Idiot"
Mental health is still gaining importance around the world; I think this is mostly thanks to TikTok videos and Gen Zs. Part of practicing good mental health is to refrain from thinking and/or talking negatively about yourself. In The Secret of the Grande Chateau, the word "idiot(s)" is said a lot by our trio of sleuths and possibly even the deputy. Trudi even says, at the end, that while the two brothers are idiots and she is as well, working together would mean they make a passable detective (201). It was a flat ending to me because it could have been said better, despite it being a cliché ending of "We each have our own strengths. We make a great crime-solving ghost-busting team. Can I officially join you two in your Adventure Club?" I understand that this is a parody, but it was a comedic bit that got old real fast.
A Curious Contradiction
This book does an excellent job with tongue-in-cheek humor and calling out the mystery genre. However, there was one instance where it's either a continuity error or I missed the point. When the Watt Boys meet Wallace, the author mentions what seems to be their motto, thereby prompting J. J.'s comment, "You've read our website, I see" (8), which Wallace confirms. While Trudi and J. J. are snooping through Thad's hotel room later on, J. J. wonders aloud if Wallace emailed the missing manuscript to him. Trudi informs him that, "Wallace P. Gross told me multiple times—unprompted—that he thinks computers are the devil" (55). This leads me to ask, why did he use a computer for his ghost situation? Was it to demonstrate that Wallace was so desperate and suspicious of everyone that he used the hated machine? Or is a continuity error? Since J. J. is surprised that Wallace looked at their website, how did he contact them if it wasn't through the website or email? Sure, it could have been by phone (although the boys don't have cellphones and we don't know what their living arrangements are like; do they have a landline just for them?). Say they did communicate by phone; usually potential clients say how they found the service so J. J. would have already known that Wallace saw their website. Also, I don't remember any mention of a laptop or computer, so how did Wallace go online to find them? Wallace had a typewriter in his room and the library was devoid of computers as well.
As someone who worked as a writer for a marketing company, I appreciate the SEO-optimized comment (8).
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| Photo by cottonbro studio |
Is This Truly a YA Novel?
Some low star reviews on Goodreads suggest that The Secret of the Grande Chateau is not a YA novel or was too adult, which made me curious as to whether these opinions had merit. Someone even mentioned that the inclusion of a swear word meant the book was no longer a book for the designated age group.
Subject Matter
The recent wave of banning books and determining what's okay for young, impressionable teens to read is a hot topic, to say the least. Parents, teachers and authority figures have vastly different opinions when considering these questions:
Is it okay to include profanity in books for teens? How about sexually explicit content? Violence? Racism? Drug use? Should we shield teens from these topics, or is it important that they have access to literature that reflects the real world? Navigating appropriateness in literature can be a rocky road when it comes to adolescents... (Ilisie, 2023)
Another factor to consider is that times change and newer generations react differently to media. Some parents will appreciate when their kids are reading books with hard-hitting topics because it starts a conversation between them. Reading about a sniper shooting at the trio in The Secret of the Grande Chateau may not shock the young reader if they've been hearing a lot about school shootings in the news, for example. True crime podcasts have increased recently, (inspiring the show Only Murders in the Building?), so J. J.'s insistence that he's tied up in "a kill room" (131) demonstrates when this book was written. Violence is already introduced early on into children's stories anyways. Take, for example, Bugs Bunny where hunting animals with a rifle is a reoccurring storyline. And if you think about fairytales, even the watered-down versions still have suggestive violence, such as when Red Riding Hood leaves the path and goes into the dark forest or when she faces the wolf in her grandmother's clothing alone in the cottage. Even Snow White's story has attempted murder since the Queen poisons Snow White. When I was 14-16, my parents showed me Magnum P.I. which follows a private investigator and his friends who all have backgrounds in the British Secret Service or the Vietnam War; some stories were comedic with adventure while others focused on traumatic experiences. Quantum Leap was the same (because it was the same creator behind it). Young readers are given or shown these stories as cautionary tales so they have the knowledge of what's out there in the world and how they should be proactive or reactive.
Granted, it's tricky to decide if a YA book is okay for a 13 or 14-year-old since the range is so large; a book written for a 16 or17-year-old may have sexual content that the 13-year-old should not read yet. Every reader is also different; it's hard to know what they can handle. The only sexually related aspect in the The Secret of the Grande Chateau is that Marcella and Thad are romantically involved and Trudi sees Marcella go into his hotel room.
Despite the parody side of this book, it provides real life lessons. After Trudi saves the boys from being choked to death by the groundskeeper, she attempts to use her shovel on the groundskeeper again to kill him, but Valentine stops her, declaring that their club doesn't do that (150). J. J. says he was thinking of changing that (150), but I think he says that only because he's sore about being kidnapped and almost being killed. Later, he saves the hotelier despite her having shot at them and making them all go through potentially fatal puzzles to reach the treasure (190-191). The hotelier is one of those villains who tries to kill the person who is helping them/helped them from sudden death. In both scenes, Valentine and J. J. demonstrate their good natures and their sense of justice. This sends the message to YA readers that it's important to have integrity and to think through your actions and their repercussions.
In the case of The Secret of the Grande Chateau, I find that it's best to introduce YA readers to the classic kid detective books. Get them excited with those pure books that have hundreds of cool, scary or intriguing scenarios. Then, if they like any of those, give them The Secret of the Grande Chateau in a year or a few years, depending on the age of the kid; they'll be able to appreciate the parody this book offers and have that love for the books that started it all.
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| Photo by DaYsO on Unsplash |
Swearing
From the various results and articles I came across, the general consensus is that a moderate amount of swearing is acceptable in YA, especially if it's realistic for the character(s) to do so. YA is for the age group of 12-17 or 13-18 depending on who you ask. Kids in this range are going to hear swearing at school, at home, at social events, online, in movies/on television. Some may not swear at all or choose not to do it openly. J. J.'s one swear of "shit" in the book hardly disqualifies the entire story from being YA; he is 17 or 18 years old and in a stressful situation. For the entirety of the book, he uses "Christmas" as his swear word as well as "dingus"; Trudi uses "frickin'" when she's trying to impersonate the Bostonian bartender and Deputy Park says "damn" occasionally since he's an adult.
Pacing
Dr. Mills repeats in various videos and in the book that he's had to switch from adult non-fiction to YA fiction. The writing style is vastly different, "When compared to adult fiction, [YA is] quicker-paced and more plot-driven. Young readers tend to have a short attention span. They crave immediacy. Keep this in mind with every word you lay down on the page. There’s no room for lofty contemplation here," (Belcastro, 2020).
The Secret of the Grande Chateau has the proper pacing. Perhaps the best example is the first chapter: where it:
- Sets the scene of who the Watt Boys are (sort of) and the initial plot
- Introduces almost all of the main characters (some briefly, others more in detail)
- Gives us a layout of the setting
- Adds a twist to up the stakes
And all of this is done in 10 pages.
J. J. may be tied up in a shed and he may panic for a time, but he spurs into action by shuffling his tied self over to the phone on the wall, creating a comedic scene where he's "course correcting" (134) so as to not fall on the floor and lose his chance at reaching help. Another feature of these books that draw young readers in are the chapter titles; like the pacing, they give you a few words that describe the point/events of the chapter. In the spirit of parody, chapters 16 and 17 are outliers with 16 claiming "The Chapter Where You Find Out Who Did It" (153) but then, you don't learn the culprit's identity, and 17 states, "A Reminder That Sometimes The Media Lies To You And I've Elected To Teach You This Life Lesson Because This Is The Actual Chapter Where You Find Out Who Did It" (165).Conclusion
From what I've seen on his Game Grumps channel and his videos as his uncle, Arin is an excellent comedian, impressionist, actor and writer. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Book 1 and found that after having read it and taken notes, I was finding more references as I wrote this blog post.
I spent an entire day reading this book. It was that good! I also listened to "Apothecary" by Derek Fiechter while reading (yes, I listen to single songs on repeat).
I have already bought Book 2: The Express Train to Nowhere, so I am looking forward to reading it and fear that this could be the end of the series based on the title.
You can find books 1 and 2 on Amazon or hear the audio book read by Arin (the true author):
Like my book reviews? Check out my library for more or read some of my posts on mystery writing.
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Happy reading and writing!
Sources
Belcastro, Mackenzie. "The Ultimate Guide To Writing YA Fiction [2022]" So You Want to Write?, 28 Sept. 2020, https://soyouwanttowrite.org/blogs/syww/the-ultimate-guide-to-writing-ya-fiction?srsltid=AfmBOorq98tqUSYLx5oVhi6GwNPyJEFTPiD6DvLPzlhKSf4tJO_tVVNi. Accessed 19 October 2024.
Ilisie, Amber. “Beginner’s Guide to Young Adult Fiction.” Skokie Public Library, 17 Aug. 2023, skokielibrary.info/blog/410/beginners-guide-to-young-adult-fiction/. Accessed 20 October 2024.
"Three Investigators." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Oct. 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Investigators. Accessed 27 October 2024.
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