The Hippo at the End of the Hall by Helen Cooper, 2017

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The invitation was delivered by bees. It wasn’t addressed to anyone at all, but Ben knew it was for him. It would lead him to an old, shambolic museum, full of strange and bewitching creatures. A peculiar world of hidden mysteries and curious family secrets . . . and some really dangerous magic.

Filled with her own wonderful illustrations, The Hippo at the End of the Hall is Helen Cooper's debut novel.

(400 pages)

I have a love-hate relationship with whimsical, quirky books like this one. On one hand, I love the idea of them. On the other, the execution often falls a bit flat and either feels like the author is trying too hard to stand out or it's just predictable.

I feel like The Hippo at the End of the Hall manages to rise above the most forgettable of this type of book. It's not going on my list of favorites, and part of me kind of thinks the story is a bit boring/contrived, but I actually got really sucked in while I was reading it and enough genuinely bizarre things happened that I could never really predict where everything was going (even if I had an idea of the overarching destination).

I think this is the sort of book that kids maybe five years younger than me would really enjoy. It's an interesting premise and fun with lots of animals, etc.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kid Alone by Simon Mason, 2017

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Meet Garvie Smith. Good-for-nothing scoundrel, genius, and sometime detective. Right in the middle of exams hell--until now.

A boy from Marsh Academy has been shot, with no clear motive and no clues. Disgraced police detective Raminder Singh is on the case, and he's determined to keep Garvie away.

But Garvie knows he's the only one who has any idea where to look for the answers. Starting with his best friend's girlfriend. And it's going to take more than pointless studying or flunking his tests to stop him getting involved.

Exams. What exams?

(384 pages)

This is the second book in the Garvie Smith murder mystery series. I also received a copy of the first book, Girl Running, when it was first released in the United States; you can read my review here, but the jist of it is that I liked the clever mystery aspect of the story but I didn't appreciate the foul language and came away really disturbed by elements of the murder plotline. That's why I was a bit apprehensive when my copy of Kid Alone arrived.

I needn't have been, though, because it was very different from the first book. There was no sexual assault, for one thing, which made a huge difference. The swear words were a lot less prevalent as well, with one or two f-words (still not ideal), but not nearly as much as in the first book.

The murder mystery itself is still an intriguing one, but not as emotionally impactful as the first one. It was also, frankly, rather more convoluted: there were so many characters and side plots that wound up being important, but I kept getting some of them confused and I didn't really care much about some of the murder's components. The parts I cared most about were the scenes with the victim's grandparents, who were so broken and sad and certain that his death was the result of anti-Polish sentiment.

It was actually also really interesting to learn about this anti-Polish racism that's apparently going on in Britain, since it's definitely not a thing I'd ever heard of before coming here. I have no idea whether the representation was fair or not, since I know absolutely nothing about it in real life, but it added an interesting component to the story. The book's description of autism also seemed well done to me, but I am in no ways an expert on ASD or its representation.

All in all, Kid Alone is an interesting murder mystery. It's not the best one I've ever read (Agatha Christie is hard to beat), but it's an interesting read with an unpredictable mystery story. If you do decide to read it, let us know what you think in the comments section below!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Running Girl by Simon Mason, 2014

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Meet Garvie Smith. Highest IQ ever recorded at Marsh Academy. Lowest ever grades. What's the point? Life sucks. Nothing surprising ever happens.
Until Chloe Dow's body is pulled from a pond. Garvie's ex-girlfriend.
Inspector Singh is already on the case. Ambitious, uptight, methodical, he's determined to solve the mystery--and get promoted. He doesn't need any "assistance" from a notorious slacker.
Or does he?
Smart, stylish, and packed with twists and turns from start to finish,Running Girl introduces an unforgettable new character to the world of crime fiction--so lazy he'd only get out of bed for murder.

(432 pages)

This book is deeply disturbing.

Though I suppose I knew it would be when I saw that it was a high school murder mystery.

I won't spoil what happened (obviously - what sort of terrible person would I be if I spoiled the end of a mystery novel?), but let's just say that there's some pretty sick stuff that they at the very least theorize was going on in Chloe's life including stalking, pedophelia, and rape. It's truly horrifying to read about, and part of me wishes I hadn't at all.

The mystery is well done, though. There were a couple of times when it seemed like everything was obvious, that the mystery was solved, and then someone (usually Garvie) would point out some small incongruency and the entire thing would unravel. Setting aside the fact that the murder theories become progressively disturbing as they go along, this definitely keeps interest the entire novel through.

I do have to say, though, that this is one of very few murder mysteries I've ever read that wasn't by Agatha Christie. I've devoured murder mystery books by the gallon, sure, but never really branched out from the one author. So when I read a murder mystery, I can't help comparing it to Christie's. Garvie - with his frustratingly apathetic approach to life, his weed addiction, and his constant betrayal of his mother's trust - is not exactly the young counterpart of Christie's Hercule Poirot, but he does share the latter's habit of keeping his cards close to his hand. Somehow I find it more annoying when Garvie does it than when Poirot does, though I don't know if that's just because I generally find Garvie to be pretty unpleasant as a character. Where Poirot is a genius who genuinely cares about the people he's investigating, Garvie is just a high school weed-head who's investigating the murder of a girl he didn't really like just for the fun of it. When he doesn't tell people everything he knows, it's more obnoxious than anything.

I don't know if I can explicitly recommend this book to anyone - not just because of the intense material, but also because of the terrible language that pops up occasionally - but I think everyone has to decide for themselves whether or not they're feeling up for it. You've read my review, you have an idea of what Running Girl is like, and now it's up to you to decide whether you want to read it. If you need any more information before you make your decision, ask me anything you want in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: I received an unsolicited ARC of this novel from the publisher.