This is number three in the Brixton Brothers series - I've missed number two and the hints in this one are tantalizing. There is always the chance that after a brilliant beginning, a series may start to fade, but Barnett has done it again! If only he wrote some similar stuff for adults! Aw, who cares? I'll read these!
The Brixton Brothers series is a must-read for anyone who enjoyed series such as The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and/or the Boxcar Children when they were young. Those books don't stand up as you age, but Barnett's books can be enjoyed by anyone capable of reading them. On its face, it is a mystery series for kids, but it's also a satire on the same. [Both a particle and a wave!] And they both work! This is a great series for an adult to share with a kid.
I was much taken by the illustration on the front of Steve Brixton on top of a moving train in a only a bathrobe (his shower cap having just flown off) being menaced by a hooded man with a lead pipe on one end and an approaching tunnel on the other. How, I thought, how on earth are we going to get to this point?! Everything that leads up to it indicates that this would be entirely impossible - but it isn't. Steve, with his reluctant "chum" Dana, can logically embroil themselves in the most fantastical scrapes!
The general over-arching theme of this book seems to be love, which Barnett handles with the deftness of a buzzing Dremel. Dana has acquired a girlfriend and a new literary interest that is a thorn in Steve's twelve-year-old side. But Steve himself must eventually confront his own feelings and the complexities of relationships, those between friends and, ew! ick!, those Other Ones!
Barnett must be familiar with Chekov's exhortation, "One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it." Be on the lookout! And enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! I retold this story over a couple of days to my husband who had to hold his head laughing. Run, don't walk, to a library to find this. Aww, heck! Buy them! They'll withstand many re-readings!