When Did You See Her Last? by Lemony Snicket
When Did You See Her Last? is the second book of four in Lemony Snicket's new series, All The Wrong Questions. I did read the first, Who Could That Be At This Hour? but I didn't review it here, so this review will sort of cover the series so far.
ATWQ is about the childhood of Lemony Snicket and his apprenticeship in an organization that no one knows about. For people who like A Series of Unfortunate Events, I feel quite sure that they will like this new series as well. While, it doesn't focus on the Baudelaire children, it still has the same distinctive voice and darker tone of Lemony Snicket's writing. In this series, there is more of a noir detective feel but it works very well.
The character of Lemony Snicket is smart and an easy character to like and follow as are his friends. All the characters are just as colorful and interesting and funny and intriguing as one would expect from Snicket. And once again, like ASOUE, the children are the heroes and they seem to be surrounded by either evil or incompetent (or, sometimes, a combination of the two) adults.
The first book, Who Could That Be At This Hour?, sees Snicket's arrival in a town called Stain'd-by-the-Sea and his attempts to find a statue of an imaginary beast and return it to its rightful owners.
When Did You See Her Last? picks up not long after and deals with the disappearance of a local girl.
One of my favorite things about this series so far is the setting of the little town of Stain'd-by-the-Sea. Once the leading manufacturer of ink, Stain'd-by-the-Sea was home to Ink Inc. which made the darkest and boldest ink in the world by extracting it from octopi that live in underwater caves. But the town has since fallen on hard times, the sea is no longer a sea and there are very few octopi left. I loved the backstory and the desolation of the town lends itself very well to the tone of the story.
Overall, I'm loving the series so far, and I'm very excited for the last two books. If you like Lemony Snicket and A Series of Unfortunate Events, I feel quite confident you'll like this new series as well. I think those who have a penchant for detective stories and mysteries may enjoy it as well.
