Spider-Man: The Secret of the Sinister Six concludes Adam-Troy Castro's Sinister Six Trilogy, which began with The Gathering of the Sinister Six (1999) and The Revenge of the Sinister Six (2001). The story explains the Gentleman's motives in assembling the Sinister Six against Spider-Man and is packed with well-written action sequences. Castro links his novel to previous Spider-Man books such as Diane Duane's The Octopus Agenda (one piece of exposition references Doctor Octopus' plan in that novel) as well as to the events of the comics. Each chapter begins with art by Mike Zeck, though the images are rather primitive when compared to the art that accompanied Duane's novels.
Castro has an odd habit of dropping pop culture references in whenever possible. While other writers have done this, it feels more jarring in his case since he often refers to characters from other media as co-existing alongside Spider-Man. This novel alone contains references to a treasure-hunter named Belloque (referencing Belloq from Raiders of the Lost Ark), John McClane (Die Hard), Detective Lenny Briscoe (Law & Order), Casper Gutman (referencing Kasper Gutman from The Maltese Falcon), FBI Agent Starling (The Silence of the Lambs), and the entire Mystery, Inc. gang from Scooby Doo in the epilogue. All of these characters are supposed to exist in the same world as Spider-Man and be just as real as he. In addition, Castro references Independence Day, Armageddon, and has Spider-Man quote one of Peter Graves' lines from Airplane! just prior to a plane crash. While readers might view some of these as "Easter Eggs," a few derail the narrative (especially the appearance of Mystery, Inc. at the end). What's more, Castro's take on Spider-Man's banter usually involves variations on pookie and bunkie instead of the witticisms employed by the comic's writers.
Speaking of Castro's writing, the novel is populated with typographical errors. Some are minor, but there are often whole words missing from sentences or spaces missing between words. The plot, and the Gentleman's plan, while reminiscent of comics stories in the 1990s, was already dated in 2002 by the events of 9/11. Readers will be struck by the improbability of much of these events occurring without the involvement of Homeland Security or some other real-world counter-terrorism task force.
With these caveats in mind, Castro does write engaging action sequences and Peter Parker/Spider-Man's struggle to save Pity, who may be his sister, elicits genuine emotion from the reader. The epilogue, prior to the sequence with Mystery, Inc., is quite touching. Those who have read the previous two novels will want to check this out for a sense of closure, but those who are only just exploring Marvel's Spider-Man novels might want to start with other books. ( )

This is the 3rd book in a series of 3 written by Adam-Troy Castro. This series is by far my favorite series in the Spider-Man novels. The storyline is enticingly original, incoporates all of my favorite Spidey villains (while following the timeline of the comic- unfortunately Mysterio dies) and really gives a great dynamic of Peter/MJ's relationship. I have read this series numerous times and will again and again! A great finish to the trilogy and a very interesting twist in the world of Spider-Man! A must read for any Spidey fan! ( )