Digital Detectives #1: Case of the Killer Bugs (Paperback)

~ Jay R. Montavon (Author) "Jason the Destroyer has a bead on a grasshopper, and it's a big one..." (more)
Key Phrases: secret level, blue pickup truck, suspect list, Bug Man, Sandra Cye, Digital Detectives (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Running Press is proud to introduce the Digital Detectives mysteries, a new series of interactive novels written for readers ages 9 to 12. Like the classic Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries, each book is full of secrets, suspects, puzzles, and clues. But these books also contain special prompts that direct readers to the free Digital Detectives website. There, kids can be the detectives and use the latest multimedia Internet technology to investigate crime scenes, interrogate witnesses, and make notes in a journal. Finally, with the help of on-line Crime Lab, they can analyze all of their evidence and point a finger at the culprit.

Here is what the first book is about: Some is selling pirated copies of the smash hit game, Insect Invaders - complete with a vicious virus that eats kids' computers alive! Now the Digital Detectives must determine who created the deadly disks. To help solve the crime, readers will make interactive on-line searches of an abandoned warehouse, the North End docks, a high-tech career fair, and much more.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Running Press Kids; First Edition edition (October 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762409053
• ISBN-13: 978-0762409051
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,134,367 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Useless Book w/ out the (Chronically Unavailable) Website, August 31, 2002

By	Moving On to Something Else... (Ashburn, VA United States) - See all my reviews

The basic premise is that to read this book and solve mysteries you must periodically logon to their website. Depending on what happens on the website, you will be given the page number to continue reading the book.

All we get from the website is "http Error 500--Internal Server Error". Can't create a User-ID, can't explore clues, and therefore cannot reasonably continue past page 22 of the book.

Interesting that a failure to maintain a web-server can instantly render useless all previously sold related product (books). I'm not aware of anyone destroying a product-line quite so quickly and easily before (though I'm sure it's happened).

Why did I rate this w/ only 1 star? Maybe because Amazon doesn't offer an option of "Minus 10 stars"...

By the way, you can ping the website and get a decent turnaround time (about 150 to 170 milliseconds for us), but don't be mislead--it appears they are continuing to have catastrophic and unrecoverable problems w/ their server.

Oh, one more thing. I clicked on their "contact support" link and sent an e-mail describing the problems. The e-mail bounced back: their support e-address is no longer working (I presume it did at some time).

So, don't waste your time (or your parent's/children's time). Until this site has been up and running succesfully for at least 6 months to a year, I wouldn't trust it.

Needless to say, just my humble opinion...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars website connected book without a website, April 29, 2002

By A Customer

This series of mysteries (Digital Detectives) requires that you read part of the story, picking up clues and information. Then you are to go to the books website to search for more clues and directions on how to solve the mystery and proceed with your reading in the book. ONE BIG PROBLEM.. the WEB SITE IS NOT FUNCTIONING....IT's NOT AVAILABLE..
For the last month we have been trying to access the website...but no response... Numerous contacts with the publisher have been met with empty promises.. Yes, we are aware of the problem. Yes, someone is looking into it. Yes, we will have the technical problems worked out by next week...hopefully. And that was close to a month ago. Still no functioning website. My words of advice about this series...don't buy it! The publisher is not supporting the website, and without the website, the mystery is dead in the water.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An "Out of Book" Experience, November 20, 2000

By A Customer

Both my 8 year old son and my 11 year old daughter found "The Case of the Killer Bugs" to be "neat and fun". This new concept of reading and solving the mystery on-line kept my children enthralled for hours. I look forward to purchasing the next book, "When Nightmares Come True". These books will be great stocking stuffers for all my nieces and nephews because the cost is so low. I hope the Digital Detective Mysteries become a series so I can collect all of them for my children. Montavon keep them coming!