"A poison most vial" by Benedict Carey

I received this book to review from Netgalley. Here are my thoughts:

This is a middle grade book, and I know what you're gonna say, but honestly - the story is quite intriguing and really funny. It's got some awesome mystery, a murder case, and a great exploration adventure.

The only reason why I'm giving it this rating, is because the world building could've been more detailed. I mean, the whole time I was reading, I was wondering where the action was taking place. It felt like the States, but was it? It also had a tiny feel of dystopian, but again, I can't really tell. It seemed to be some sort of a closed community, somewhere. There apparently were different neighborhoods, and then everybody working at the university/school/lab lived in the same building (called the Terraces). Other than that, I don't know anything. I don't even know if anything else existed outside of this little village(or was it a town).

But, leaving that aside, I think that any kid 8-15 (and perhaps older readers as well) would enjoy the story very much. The murder case was presented pretty neatly, and got me sucked in right away.

To be honest, from my viewpoint, most of the adults felt like mannequins, doing almost nothing. But hey, it's a kids' story, so the teen characters are those who truly matter.

The characters:

*Ruby Rose - she was a lively kid, full of ideas, and devoted to her dad (dunno where her mom is). She's also talented in drawing and critical thinking. She was the real investigator, though at one point she was quite surprised to find herself in charge. Loved that about her, being modest and all.

*Theodore, aka T-Rex - he was a Jamaican boy, Ruby's only friend. He also has good ideas sometimes, pushing the investigation onwards. His sheer size saved the two not once. I also loved his slang, it sounded pretty genuine.

*Mrs. Whitmore - I think that's the name - was the old lady who never went out of her apartment. Legends were told about her, that mostly scared children. In truth, this woman was the puppeteer who controlled the young investigators from afar, giving them clues and new ways to think.


My rating is