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...)

Knightley & Son - Book Two: K-9

As the title of this second Knightley and Son mystery suggests, Darkus Knightley is up to his nose in canine trouble when a number of police officers are attacked by some highly trained, unnaturally intelligent dogs.  When Darkus' own Uncle Bill falls victim to one of these shadow dogs, it becomes personal, and Darkus tracks down his once again missing father to discover that he is already on the case - without him!

Author Rohan Gavin returns with another tale of mystery, danger, and the Combination as Darkus finds himself facing off against the villain who may or may not be a werewolf.  The elder Knightley believes there is a supernatural creature that is running around, but his son, Darkus, sticks to his belief that there has to be a rational explanation.  And regardless of which side of the fence it falls on, they both have their suspicions that the Combination, that sinister group that somehow affected Darkus' step-father in the previous book is behind this latest attack on London.

The story drags a bit in the first half, with the focus more on the family drama that Darkus faces with a half-crazed step-father, a missing biological father who falls into unexpected comas, and a beloved dog that he is forced to give up (but, of course, later learns will be taken in by his father's housekeeper, Bogna.  And when he forces his way into his father's latest case (bemoaning the fact that his father hid the case from him and did not include him, despite the business cards he gave him in the last book that said "Knightley & Son"), he faces disappointment when it seems his step-sister Tilly is more interested in a boy than in helping him figure out what is going on.

Once the mystery gears up, though, the pace begins to move and the book becomes much more engaging. What first appears to be two unrelated mysteries eventually prove to be interrelated, and Gavin provides a few nice surprises along the way as Darkus, his father, Tilly, and Uncle Bill, along with Darkus' new pet dog, Wilbur, race against time to solve the mystery before the next full moon.  When a reporter is kidnapped and a television celebrity discovers footage of what appears to be a supernatural creature trying to break into her home, they know time is running out.

And one warning about this tale - not everyone makes it out unscathed.

At the end of the book is a preview of the next mystery, 3 of a Kind - - which, I've had on my Amazon watch list for a while, but it was recently listed as "unavailable."  I found out why the other day, because the publisher has decided to issue the book in hardcover first.  That is SO annoying, as the first two books came out only in paperback, but I guess they sold well enough that the publisher is now going to go to hardcover first, meaning I'll have to wait another year or more for the next book to come out in paperback - - UGH!

Of course, I guess I could look at the bright side - if it's doing that well, perhaps that means we'll get a fourth book or more!

RATING:  7 strong-scented bags of coffee beans out of 10 for providing an unexpected twist ending when it comes to the villain behind all the machinations!

Knightley & Son - Book One

The British invasion of series books here in America seems to be growing by leaps and bounds.  This new series, Knightley & Son, can now be added the list.  And, just like with the British television shows that I have found I enjoy, so I can say the same thing about the series I've picked up, including this one.

In this first book of the series, author Rohan Gavin introduces us to Darkus Knightley (and yes, that name definitely gets him made fun of in school), a not-so-typical thirteen year old boy whose father, London's top private investigator, has been in a coma for the past four years.  Darkus has spent the last four years visiting his father in the hospital and doing everything he can to learn all he can about his father - including memorizing every bit of information on the cases his father had stored on his hard drive.  Each case has its own unique name, such as the "Curious Case of the Amber Necklace."  And while Darkus spends his visits with his father going over those cases, little does he realize the importance that knowledge is going to play...

In 313 pages and 29 chapters, Gavin provides enough twists and turns to keep the most curious minds intrigued, and the mystery itself - how in the world is a mysterious book called The Code driving otherwise sane people to commit crimes? - is quite frankly the first one in a while that had me stumped up until the end.

Of course, as is typical with most young adult and children mystery series, Darkus come from a broken home.  His mother and father are divorced, and his mother has remarried a more stable man (as opposed to Alan Knightley, whose conspiracy theories led to the demise of his marriage) who is a widower that comes with his own daughter, Tilly.  The family dynamic is certainly the "norm" by today's standards, but Gavin keeps it fresh with the interaction between Darkus and Tilly, and by the unique relationship that Darkus shares with his father.  There are also several supporting cast members who are just as fun to read - Mr. Knightley's secretary Bogna; Inspector Draycott, who has little time for Mr. Knightley's ideas; and Uncle Bill, who is not really an uncle, but an agent of Scotland Yard.

The mystery begins with a young boy in a bookstore becoming absorbed by what he is reading in The Code, only to find himself being attacked by a horde of bugs coming out of the book - bugs that only he can see.  Transition to Darkus sitting by his father's bedside, praying his father will one day come back to him.  Then, as fate would have it, as soon as he leaves, the nurse turns on the TV, and upon hearing the word "combination," Alan Knightley wakes up from his four-year nap!  The chase is on from that moment forward, and Darkus, as well as his step-sister, get caught up in the game, and before you know it, everyone's in danger!  A chip off the old block, Darkus puts his observational skills and powers of deduction and reasoning to help his father figure out exactly what is going on, who is behind the seemingly supernatural events, and how they can stop the villains before they destroy society as a whole!

And throughout the entire book, Darkus tries to keep away from emotions that will only get in the way of his crime-solving; however, he can't keep fighting the desire to win his father's approval and love, something he has been missing so desperately for the past four years.  It creates a tension between the father and son that readers will actually feel and want resolution before the book ends!

Mystery!  Conspiracy!  Humor!  Family drama! This one has it all, and it kept my attention page after page after page.  All in all a fun read that makes me want to run out and buy the second book now!

RATING:  8 abandoned tube stations out of 10 for providing a brand new take on the children's mystery genre - a father and son detective team!