All The Wrong Questions

All the Wrong Questions, an intriguing novel by Lemony Snicket, was an amazing  first book to this captivating series. The author, Lemony Snicket, places himself in the story as the main character. The author did not actually go through the experiences, such as being a detective and investigating a small town with a huge story.

Lemony Snicket has chosen the worst ranked detective as his mentor, who he would be apprenticed to for an unspecified amount of time. The detective, Theodora S. Markson, takes Lemony to a deserted town with very few residents, called Stain by the Sea. In this small town, a statue of the Bombinating Beast has been stolen from the Sallis Mansion. Lemony and his mentor were hired by Mrs.Sallis to find out who had stolen the statue and to try retrieve it. After discovering who has the statue, Lemony and his mentor conjure up a scheme to recover the Bombinating Beast. As the case of the stolen statue goes on, Lemony meets mysterious people and even makes a friend or two, but he also learns that there is a bigger mystery to the Bombinating Beast than he could have ever imagined.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, although it was a little confusing. In the beginning, it was clear that Lemony Snicket’s mission was to retrieve the statue. When Lemony found out there was more to the mystery than was said by Mrs.Sallis, I got a little confused.  Around the middle of the book, Lemony starts talking about why he chose the worst mentor possible. Theodora is the worst ranked mentor on the list of detectives, because she is not a good detective and does not see far into the case. Lemony says that the original purpose for going to Stain by the Sea was that he needed to dig tunnels, but he did not specify what the tunnels were or where they led to. Lemony was also writing secret notes through library book requests, but the book never stated to whom he was writing to. That was a little bit confusing to me. Also, the whole book was building up to the climax, and Lemony was figuring out everything behind the mystery. This was building up to the action, but the action never happened. I assume that the most interesting parts will happen further in the series, but I still wish some things actually happened in the first book. I did not think the book would be too interesting, because in the first few chapters, it just talked about how Lemony had a new mentor, and they had a simple mission, but it really began to pull me in when Lemony began to find out more about what was really behind the mystery of the stolen statue. I recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery and cliffhangers at the end of every chapter that keep you turning the page.

Author: Lemony Snicket

Genre: Mystery