The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen
A Pals in Peril Tale, Book 2
M. T. Anderson
Beach Lane Books
Fiction, MG Action/Humor/Sci-Fi
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: It's summer break, and Katie is bored, bored, bored. She's sick and tired of the werewolves and the zombies, of foiling evil plans and solving mysteries and otherwise being the girl heroine of Horror Hollow (off Route 666). She just wants to do normal stuff for a while: go on vacation, read a vapid teen magazine and do the quizzes, chill out by the pool. Fortunately, her friend Jasper Dash (Boy Technonaut, young hero of his own obsolete kid adventurer series) just got an invitation to Moose Tongue Lodge and Resort. That sounds like just the place to have an ordinary, boring summer with Jasper and their other friend, the normal girl Lily (well, except for the time she helped stop her dad's boss from taking over the world with an army of whales on stilts, but that's a story for a previous book).
When they get to the mountains, they're surprised to discover that not only is Jasper's photocopied coupon fraudulent, but that several other guests received the same ones... guests that seem oddly familiar, such as the crime-solving duo the Manley Boys, the gossiping Cutesy Dell twins, and even Eddie Wax, star of a popular boy-and-his-horse adventure. The famed Hooper Quints were supposed to turn up, too - only, shortly after the trio arrive, someone rushes into the lobby to announce that the quints were abducted on the way up the mountain! This looks like a mystery in need of solving, with a villain in need of thwarting - but Katie didn't come all the way up here just to fall right back into danger and detective work. It's summer, darn it all, and she's on break! Unfortunately, peril didn't get the memo to leave the pals alone, not even on vacation...
REVIEW: I only had a short window to listen to an audiobook today, so I grabbed this title, having greatly enjoyed Whales on Stilts previously. Just as hilarious and out-loud-snicker-inducing as the first book, The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen once again presses the pedal to the metal (and nearly through to the asphalt) with a fast-paced story full of action(!), mystery(!), danger(!), footnotes(!), and exclamation marks(!). Amid the hilarious satire of numerous classic series, Anderson actually adds a little depth to his characters, making them more than the tropes they were created to skewer. The tale leans more into the meta elements introduced in the previous volume, as the characters seem mildly self-aware about being fictional creations, which has some drawbacks that come into play in the story. There's an unexpected element of pathos underlying this revelation, giving the story more heart than its outwardly silly, over-the-top trappings might suggest. Katie tries being a normal girl for once, finding new friends in the Cutesy Dell twins, but there's only so long she can stay out of the heroism game. As she sits on the sidelines, Lily and Jasper take up the challenge of solving the mystery, but both run into their own brands of trouble as they get separated during the search for the missing quintuplets. Other guests at the lodge, of course, are all suspects in their own ways, each more peculiar than the last.
The tale quite deliberately does not even try to make sense by the end (another nod to serial tales that often, especially later in their runs, sacrifice logic for cheap thrills and big twists), but it all works in its own context; as before, this is the kind of story that can only work with absolute, total commitment to the conceit. I expect I'll continue on with this series if they remain this fun, and I'm definitely interested in seeing where Anderson is going with kid heroes who are aware of how they're stuck in time and tropes beyond their control.
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Whales on Stilts (M. T. Anderson) - My Review
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