When Did You See Her Last? by Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket is one of those authors who just screams childhood to me. When I was in my younger years, and everyday that is getting further and further away, Snicket was my favourite author. Forget J.K Rowling, Snicket's books were much more my thing. I think I preferred the realism and the sarcasm that he wrote with. I saved up every year to by the latest book in his A Series Of Unfortunate Events series and enjoyed every one of them. Except the last one. What a terrible book that was. It completely ruined the entire series for me, as well as feigning my interest in Snicket. But I will always be thankful for him. He made my interest in reading continue as a young adult, and was the best transition to have from young adult books to the adult world.

A Series Of Unfortunate Events...my childhood in a picture

So due to my feigning interest as I put it, I stopped following him completely. Imagine my delight then to see when I traipsing through another charity box to find a book by him. Seeing his name made me instantly think about laying in bed late (when I should have been asleep) delving into the latest in his prior series. I mean of course I realise I am an adult now, but after reading such a depressing series of books, I decided a bit of nostalgia was highly necessary this week.

Now due the nature of the charity box, I often get stuck reading the second in a series of books, waiting and waiting to get my hands on the first in the series (if I ever get the chance). This is the case here I am afraid, but if I ever get the chance, I shall review book 1 in his brand new series of novels, All The Wrong Questions. Today's blog will look at the second in the series entitled When Did You See Her Last?. A bit of research to get some context due the lacking first novel, I was delighted to discover that Snicket's new series is a prequel to A Series Of Unfortunate Events.

Lemony's latest offering

Reading the first page immediately bought back memories of Snicket's style. The wit was there from the first page. The second novel in the series sees us following Snicket himself in a dying seaside town called Stain'd-by-the-Sea. His brilliance with using names was still there, already giving me a grim impression of this almost abandoned town. Snicket is an apprentice to a police detective investigating the disappearance of a local rich girl. His teacher thinks the case is easily solved, but as expected, Snicket is on the case to show there is so much more to the story. Playing someone of younger age, the characters in the new series do for me what the Baudelaire triplets did in A Series Of Unfortunate Events. They taught me to be intuitive, bright, confident and know that adults aren't always right as they grow up.

Now I don't want to give too much plot away here, but it is typical Snicket. Full of twists and turns, as well as the moments where you think everything is finally going to plan for a spanner to be thrown in the words. It is so comforting to know that there is still a lot of intelligent and witty fiction out there for children, and not just sticker books with One Direction's face on. There were a few parts I didn't quite understand, such as what age Snicket is supposed to be in the novel, but I'm sure all would become clear with the first book. as many of the characters are children in the book, as an adult it was easy to see their innocence and disillusion. But as is typical for Snicket, he gives children a chance to fight for change, even in his sometimes surreal world.

So even if you think you are too old to read him now, don't knock it until you've tried it. There are still plenty of adult themes within the novel, including murder, kidnapping and deception. I couldn't help but feel that it is all building up to an exciting conclusion. Buy this book, even if not for your child or a child you know, buy it for yourself. Snicket hasn't lost it. It may even rouse a child's interest in his previous fiction, something I think was so very important! And to keep my interest as an adult? Well my version of an adult, is something pretty special.

When Did You See Her Last? (book 2 in the All The Wrong Questions series) is published by Little, Brown in the UK.