Eoin Colfer

Half-Moon Investigations

Kirsten Simkiss

This book was cute, but it didn’t really click with me as much as some of Colfer’s other books. It did well at imitating the old New York detective lingo and writing style. Unfortunately, that made it feel weird to me when I realized they were all meant to be from Ireland and I’d been picturing New York tweens this whole time. All in all, it was an enjoyable read but it almost felt like a chore to read for me. It just wasn't my kind of book, I guess, but it's not a bad read.

The characters were interesting enough, and possesses equally strange names. I didn’t latch onto any one of them in particular, but they weren’t bad. The plot itself was a little difficult to solve as the reader, seeing as you aren't given critical information until much later in the book. Unfortunately, not being given enough information to solve it is one of my mystery pet peeves. I want to make my own guesses at it, not just follow along in wonder like John Watson. I want to be Sherlock.

On the whole, I'm not sure how believable the plot was. The ultimate solution to all the crimes seems to be a little strange to me. I feel like the person involved would have gotten caught doing all these different things because they'd stick out like crazy as an anomaly in most of these situations. I feel like the logic of reality was let go for the sake of the story, which is some of what fiction is about, but I still felt a little cheated by how far out of left field the solution was.

I would recommend this to middle school aged kids. Older than that? Maybe not. It's definitely meant for that age range.

Half-Moon Investigations

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