From School Library Journal
Grade 10 Up—Horatio Wilkes, the teen sleuth from
Something Rotten (Dial, 2007), takes on another case in this contemporary reworking of
Macbeth. He's attending a Scottish Highland Fair atop a mountain in Tennessee with his old buddy Mac, Mac's controlling girlfriend (named Beth, no less), and their families. Horatio doesn't like Beth, and his friendship with Mac becomes even more strained after a palm reader predicts that Mac will win the Highland decathlon and become "king of the mountain." When Mac's grandfather Duncan, the mountain's owner, is murdered, Horatio gradually discovers that Mac has slipped into madness and resorted to violence to make the prophecy come true. The insane obsession of Shakespeare's character doesn't translate well into modern times here because Mac's motives are weak, and the insanity they cause seems a bit of a stretch. Horatio talks and acts more like a 30-something P.I. than a teenager, and it's hard not to wonder where his parents are when he is severely beaten up and works with police to solve the murder. This story has some fun aspects, but the literary references will be lost on all but those well-versed in
Macbeth. The narrative is riddled with sexual innuendo and smart-alecky metaphors that will soon become tiresome to even the most sarcastic teen readers.—
Jake Pettit, Thompson Valley High School Library, Loveland, CO Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
In the first Horatio Wilkes novel, Something Rotten (2007), Shakespeare’s Hamlet provided inspiration for a mystery set in contemporary Tennessee, featuring Horatio, a teen detective with a smart mouth and a cunning mind. In this sequel, Horatio goes to Mount Birnam near Pigeon Forge to attend the Highland Games with his old friends Banks and Mac as well as his bestenemy, Mac’s girlfriend, Beth. Drawn with affection as well as humor, the colorful Scottish-heritage background makes a distinctive setting for this fast-paced novel. The Mac/Beth wordplay may be a groaner, but in general the narrative is so witty (and occasionally laugh-aloud funny) that the murders, when they come, seem truly shocking and out of place. Readers familiar with Macbeth will catch references that others may miss, but enjoyment of the novel does not depend upon knowledge of the play. From the author of Samurai Shortstop (2006), this unusual mystery combines violence, sometimes-wry and sometimes-bawdy humor, and down-to-earth teen concerns. Grades 9-12. --Carolyn Phelan
