Customer Reviews

Secret of the Three Treasures

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4 star:		(1)
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Tiernay West is a marvelous character, overflowing with imagination, courage, and a love of adventure. Her sidekick in this adventure, Kevin, is your normal nerd-in-training, more comfortable with computers than a search for gold. Together they make a good team, cracking a mystery hundreds of years old even though the adults hardly even notice that there is a mystery. Tiernay's total faith in herself as an adventurer carries her through when anyone else would give up and go home to bed.

The best thing about this book, though, is its humor. I loved Tiernay's watch, given to her by her divorced, adventurer father. It shows the time in different cities around the world, and she's always reporting the time in Kabul or Toronto or Singapore, rather than in her home town. That's suits her just fine, because she lives more in her imagination than in the real world. The humor isn't mean; it doesn't make fun of anyone, and that's the best (and hardest) humor there is.

The great characters and humor easily carry the reader through a conclusion that is a bit pat and coincidental. All in all, though, a recommended read!

Tiernay West, whose business card reads: "Professional Adventurer," isn't your average girl. When she hears about a mystery in her hometown, she's on the case, even if she would rather be riding the Orient Express or searching for a crumbling scroll in the lost library of Alexandria. Because when you begin an adventure, "you have to start somewhere." Indeed. With her sidekick, allergy-ridden Kevin (the son of her mother's boyfriend), Tiernay solves the mystery her way. This is a very funny book, about a girl whose imaginative inner life swamps her real one, and her determination to live on her own terms.

Fans of the Sammy Keyes series should love this one, and I hope to see more of Tiernay's adventures in print!

Great little young adult mystery. Especially for you curious types. The charaters are fun, the writing is well polished and the plot keeps pulling you along.

If you'ld like to find more of janni's stories, check out some of the young adult horror anthologies edited by bruce coville. ALSO, "GOTHIC! ten original dark tales" edited by deborah noyes. That anthology has a GREAT teen level horror/suspense story by Janni Lee Simner. Unfortunately it goesn't come up on the amazon search for simner.

Gothic!: Ten Original Dark Tales