Review: An interesting and exciting read!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 13, 2014
Even as a grown-up, I love good books for young people, and this is a great example. The story is a mystery made all the more intriguing by the strength of the real-life characters, both protagonists and antagonists, as well as the supporting cast of secondary characters.The young people central to the story – Irish brother and sister Seán and Maeve and their new friend Stephanie - have to have their adventures within the constraints of normal family and school life. The author doesn't kill off their parents in a car accident first or send them off on an extended trip exploring the African jungle. Neither is the setting for the story some airy-fairy place, but modern Belgium, where in the recent past real children have been kidnapped.The vividly-portrayed action is further enhanced by the historical background surrounding the Master's Book of the title and its origins, and this is interesting without being too heavy. All in all this is a great read, exciting yet always believable, with one foot in the romantic past and the other squarely in the modern world.