“There are two reasons why a writer would end a sentence with the word “stop” written entirely in capital letters STOP.”

Of course, STOP is written to mark the end of a sentence in a telegram. But Lemony Snicket is really stressing on the second usage of the word STOP to his readers when he opens up this book. He is asking his readers, quite emphatically, to STOP reading the tale of the three Baudelaire orphans. There is no surer way to guarantee that a reader, after reading such a warning, will plunge into the book at full speed.

The Baudelaires have been moving from one bad situation to a worse one, ever since the a fire consumed their parents and house. They were placed in the care of Count Olaf (Book #1), only to find out that he was a criminal who only wanted to steal the Baudelaire fortune. Since then the three children have moved on to different guardians, living with Uncle Monty who loved reptiles (Book #2), stayed with Aunt Josephine who was mortally afraid of almost everything (Book #3), worked at a mill (Book #4), worked at an academy (Book #5), lived with the Squalors (Book #6) and finally fled from a village of fowl devotees (Book #7).

Being hopelessly lost, the Baudelaires fall in with the Volunteers Fighting Disease and end up at the Hiemlich Hospital where they finally stumble upon a piece of information that is about to change who chases whom. The existence of a “Baudelaire file” puts the children at grave risk, and they stumble upon a single photograph that contains a clue that the orphans (or not?) must decipher. But before they can get anywhere with the information, they once again fall into the hands of Olaf’s associates.

I grew to enjoy this series, when I first began reading it a decade ago. The tricks of the villain aren’t too innovative or jaw-dropping but Lemony Snicket writes with a dry, clever wit, that keeps you wanting to read ahead. By this point, the series has dragged out pretty far, and there are still 5 more books to go! It’s a good thing they are quick reads, or the reader would the run the risk of giving up in the middle of the series.

More than the Baudelaire story, I’m curious about Lemony’s. I love how he drops those subtle hints about Beatrice in his dedications at the start of every book

For Beatrice –
Summer without you is as cold as winter.
Winter without you is even colder.
…or how he writes to his “editor” at the end of every book, telling him where to find the next “manuscript of the Baudelaire story.”

Don’t miss the Jim Carrey, on-screen version of the first three books of this series, titled “A Series of Unfortunate Events”. It is funny, colorful and a good watch for the youngsters. ( )

Mystery

Not favorite book in the series thus far, but still entertaining. I did enjoy it, just not as much as some others. I'm looking forward to see what happens in the next book. I would recommend this. 4 out of 5 stars. ( )

That moment when you finally remember what VFD stands for and you gasp loudly on public transit and you probably look strange but you feel transported back to elementary school and reading these books for the first time. Great moment. ( )

(3.5 / 5)

The three Baudelaire orphans are on their own now, but that doesn't make them safe. In fact, now they have to be wary of anyone who's ever read the newspaper, which is just about everyone. Fortunately, they're able to hide in a group of volunteers who don't read the paper and whose organization initials happen to be V.F.D. This leads them to a hospital, where they encounter Count Olaf and his associates in full force.

As we continue to progress away from the tired formula that the first half of the series followed, I find the overall story a little more interesting. I still don't get most of the humor that others seem to like, but I'll admit I found some of Sunny's dialog to be funny in this book (I even laughed out loud one time). The V.F.D. mystery is gaining interest for me, and the ending was such a departure that it felt like a breath of fresh air.

In some ways, though, outside of the stand-out things mentioned above, this was still the same old story. Still, I liked it more than most of the previous ones, and Tim Curry singing the V.F.D. song throughout the book was a lot more fun than it probably should have been. (This book is brought to you by the word "spurious.") ( )