Knightley & Son - Book Three: 3 of a Kind

Finally! After literally years of waiting for this book to become available again through Amazon, I was finally able to get the final installment of the Knightly & Son series. The first two books were fairly decent reads, and knowing this will conclude the Knightleys battle with the evil Combination, I really wanted to read it.  Now, I've had the chance, and I can say with all sincerity that it was worth the wait.

3 of a Kind starts off a bit rocky - Darkus is no longer doing detecting work with his father (leaving that to his step-sister, Tilly), and he is trying to lead the normal life of a teenager. Of course, life has a way of messing up even the best laid plans, and before you know it, the Knightley's housekeeper, Bogna, has gone missing after going on a date with someone she met on a dating app - someone who, quite frankly, doesn't really exist.  Knightley, Tilly, and Uncle Bill have Underwood in custody, so does that mean the Combination is still running without their leader? And just what information does Underwood have about Tilly's dead mother? And what does the code mean that Underwood spouts out before he puts himself into a self-induced coma? And will Darkus help out his father and step-sister when he finds out that Bogna's life is in danger?

Author Rohan Gavin gives readers a thrill ride that takes his characters on a cross-Atlantic adventure as the detectives come to America to search for Bogna. There is plenty of action, plenty of mystery, and plenty of drama, with a splash of humor here and there for good measure. The story is thoroughly enjoyable and brings to a satisfying conclusion some of the mysteries that have been building since the first novel.

The only drawback to the story is, from the moment they set out to head to America, the constant need to explain every term and word used! An EMP I can somewhat understand, as a younger reader may not automatically know that is an electromagnetic pulse. Los Angeles means City of Angels ... "fanny pack" ... shotgun means someone taking the front passenger seat ... a parking brake is a handbrake in England ... a trunk is called a boot in England ... POTUS is the abbreviation for President of the United States ... motel is a combination of "motor" and "hotel" ... a screenplay is a blueprint for a movie ... and so on, and so on, and so on. It begins to grow a bit tedious having every single thing explained. To a certain degree, it feels like an insult to the reader, as if the reader would never understand any of these things or is incapable of looking things up.

Otherwise, the mystery was ingenious - a plot devised by the Combination to lure Knightley and his son into a trap of their making - and after escaping numerous scenarios that could have resulted in their deaths, they finally make it to their final destination - but will that turn out to be literal? And just who is the surprise person who has been behind all of these machinations and what is that person's true goal?  The reader will certainly not see it coming, that's for sure!

A fairly decent three-book series, and I have no doubt that the intended audience (age level) will find the books thoroughly engaging.

RATING:  7 flame-throwing hair dryers out of 10 for providing a nice resolution to the story of Knightley and his son (while leaving room for more adventures if Gavin so chooses to write any...)