Amanda Lester and the Gold Spectacles Surprise (Amanda Lester Mysteries No. 6)

I've compared the Amanda Lester series to the world of Harry Potter - just, instead of a wizardry school full of hopeful future wizards, you've got a school full of future detectives!  And, just like Harry Potter has his Volde - - er, I mean - "he who shall not be named," Amanda Lester and her friends have the fiendish Moriarty.  However, Amanda Lester's world becomes even more complicated, because Moriarty is not the only villain.  There is also Banting Waltz.  And Amanda's own mother, Lila.  And Taffeta Tasmania, who had brought back the school for training criminals. And Eamon Augustus Moran, a descendant of the assassin, Sebastian Moran.  With criminals on every side of them, Amanda and her friends have their work cut out for them, that's for sure.  Particularly when they are looking for the pages to the Detective Bible.  And trying to find the Metadata.  And uncovering Nick's true family.  And searching for the mysterious gold spectacles that have unusual properties.  Meanwhile, Simon is still trying to win Ivy's heart.  Nick is hiding out in the woods, trying to stay alive.  Scapulus is upset that Amanda chose Nick over him, so he has decided to follow a different path - one that changes him both physically and emotionally.  As for Amanda?  Well....

Amanda Lester the Gold Spectacles Surprise is probably my least favorite of all the books in the series thus far.  Actually, let me take that back.  It is absolutely my least favorite.  Up until this book, I have pretty much enjoyed the series.  Sure, there have been moments or aspects I didn't necessarily like.  But, overall, the series has been pretty well written with enjoyable stories.  However, this book somehow just goes off the rail.  Quite frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if it was written by someone other than Paula Berinstein, as the characters do not have the same feel as the prior books, and the story is so jumbled and all over the place that the reader can get completely lost trying to follow along.

Berinstein opens the book not with its title character, but with Nick Muffet, who has lost his hearing and is wandering alone in the woods, trying to stay hidden and stay alive.  I will admit, the first chapter does give the reader a pretty good idea of Nick's mindset, with not only his confusion and frustration, but his self-doubt as well.  I guess, in a way, this sets the tone for the entire book.  From here, Berinstein immediately switches over to Amanda and Ivy as they meet Nick's real mother, Sasha, and quickly discover that not only is Basilica Nick's sister, she's also the daughter of Darius Plover!  Then, gears are switched again, this time to Amanda's mother, Lila, who has now thrown in her hat with Banting Waltz to take revenge on Thrillkill.  Next, Berinstein moves on to Scapulus Holmes, who suddenly decides to reinvent himself - if Amanda likes the bad boys, then a bad boy he would be!  Then, readers get treated to some Simon Binkle time, as he enlists the aid of Holmes to prove a theory about the Detectives' Bible and the quarry where it was thought to be lost.  As if that weren't enough, then we follow Harry Sheriff and his new girl, Summer, as they show up to see Thrillkill in prison to demand the metadata from him. And from this point, it becomes a spinning story of Nick, Amanda and Ivy, Lila and Banting, Holmes, and Simon, as the points of view change more rapidly than most people change clothes!

This is not to say there are no good points to the story.  The events that take place in the castle, which is now holding the school for young criminals in training, are actually pretty intriguing and more along the lines of Berinstein's prior stories.  Amanda is determined to get the gold spectacles that Taffeta has stolen (yes, the book finally does get around to addressing those mysterious "spectacles" for which the book is titled) and sneaks into the school disguised as a plumber to get them.  The only thing is, she is not alone.  It seems Blixus Moriarty is after something in Taffeta's safe.  As, so it appears, is Harry Sheriff!  And Amanda is surprised to find Eustace Plantagenet at Schola - but when he sees her, he simply turns away and doesn't tell anyone she is there.  What is going on?  And then there's Scapulus Holmes.  He is there on his own mission and is surprised when he sees Amanda being chased by Blixus!  Holmes raises his gun and fires...

But, unfortunately, that was not nearly enough to cause me to overlook all of the emotional whining the characters did throughout the entire story.  Since the first book, Amanda has been growing, both as a detective and as a person; however, she seems to have regressed here and spends most of the book worrying about Nick, obsessing over her thoughts of losing him, and seems unable to figure out the mysteries right in front of her.  Holmes is overly obsessed with becoming a new person, wanting to get even with Nick, and there are even chapters dedicated to Holmes' obsession with playing a video game where he believes he is facing off against his adversary (this whole subplot felt unnecessary and nothing more than filler).  Simon has suddenly changed into a quivering blob of emotions for Ivy, determined to do anything to win her love - from creating a musical instrument for her to going on daring missions to impress her.

Honestly, at this point, I'm not sure if Berinstein knows where she is going with all of this, or she's just trying to squeeze in stories utilizing all of her ever-growing cast of characters.  The mystery surrounding the gold spectacles plays such a small part of this story - considering what they are, what they do, and what they ultimately reveal about one of the teachers at the school, one would think they would be the whole focus of the book.  It seems, though, this series has turned into a soap opera (think 90210 crossed-over with Harry Potter), and so everyone fights to have equal "screen time."  The story is becoming so convoluted, with an ever-increasing cast of characters, too many subplots, and so little time focused on the actual title mystery.  I think I preferred the earlier books where Amanda Lester was the main focus, and her supporting cast did that - they supported her, they didn't take over the stories!

I already have the next book, The Green Monkey Gotcha, so we will see where that book takes us.  I figure I'll give it one more chance, and if Gotcha gets the series back on track, then I'll look at purchasing the next books in the series; otherwise, book 7 may end up being my last one.

RATING:  4 love-felt ivy-fortes out of 10 for at least giving readers a great climactic race for the glasses in an old castle, even if it was short-lived...