I read this book back when it was first released in the U.S. and I absolutely loved it. I'm an absolute sucker for adventure stories. I've read it along with the second and third book, but I plan on picking up any additional books released. While it is for middle grade readers, I feel that anyone can enjoy the story. Its a really great read! ( )

I am probably being too harsh in my rating. However, my 12 year old and I started this book twice and put it down twice. We ended up abandoning it. It may get better farther in, but with a young adult novel I'm not willing to wade through 70-80 pages to get to something engaging. It just seemed too predictable and the characters were one dimensional. ( )

Gerald is annoyed when his parents drag him to London to the funeral of a great-aunt that he has never met. But he is astounded when he finds out that his great-aunt Geraldine has left her enormous fortune to him. Overnight, Gerald becomes a billionaire and is besieged by paparazi.

Gerald is left with a bunch of mysteries to solve. Who killed Geraldine? What does her death have to do with the recent theft of an enormous diamond from the British Museum? Who set fire to his new London mansion? And who is that thin man who is following him around?

Gerald quickly plunges into danger and adventure along with his new friends Sam and Ruby in a quest to solve his aunt's murder and find the stolen diamond. ( )

“In a blur of moment…lifted his cane and whipped away its outer covering to reveal a long silver blade. He lunged forward and slashed the razor-sharp sword high across…”

Gerald Archer was a typical teenager, that is right before winter break. His friend’s family and himself were planning on going up to the snow covered mountains, where they could snowboard for hours on end. However, right before the end of the day he is called down to the office, to find out that his Great Aunt Geraldine(whom which he had never met) had passed away. He doesn’t understand why his mother is so cheerful, why it involves him, and why he has to England to go to her funeral.

He is furious with this, because he would much rather be with his friend snowboarding than go to some old lady’s funeral. The thing is though, now that he is boarding a private jet, his emotions change from angry to confused. He doesn’t understand how his family could afford this, and a snobby butler, Mr. Fry. When they land in England, they are swarmed with photographers, journalists, paparazzi, and more. Gerald tries to find a place to sit while he watches the show, but when he does, his journey officially begins. From that point on, Gerald find himself getting caught up in the “good life”- luxury, money, fame, fortune, thieves, death, and last but certainly not least-murder. Let the trilogy to find out who killed his Great Aunt Geraldine begin!

The Billionaire’s Curse by Richard Newsome is magnificent. I completely loved this book! From the second you pick it up, you won’t be able to put it down. As you head deeper into the story, the characters become so life like, it seems unrealistic. It seems as if the characters are right in front of you, like in a movie. With the characters being so fascinating, it was as if I was watching a movie play in my head.

Now besides all of the praise about this book, there are a couple of problems with it. One problem I had with the book, is that Newsome didn’t always tell which character is talking. This kept causing me to go back to the beginning of that paragraph, and I found myself re-reading over and over again in an endless cycle. Also, another major important thing, is that the beginning of this book is horribly boring. It took me three times to pick up this book and finally try to keep reading until the end. Each time I got about 100 pages in and quit. The beginning of the book just lacks what the end of the book has. I think this is a major problem if Newsome wants more people to read this book.

Overall, this book is great-the setting fits in perfectly, the characters are magnificent, the dialogue fits right in, along with all of the other elements that are being used. If you haven’t read this book yet, I highly recommend that you do so. If you like mystery, murder, crime solving, or realistic fiction books, The Billionaire’s Curse is just right for you. I would have to rate this book a five out of five stars. ( )

I usually love a mystery, but this one just didn't stay with me after I'd finished reading it. The details are mostly gone, and it's been less than one day! Gerald doesn't know his deceased great aunt, but she leaves him her entire fortune, as well as a letter that tells him she has been murdered and it is up to him to find out who killed her and why.
The beginning of the book is quite suspenseful, with the detective guarding the diamond getting robbed from inside a locked room, but the book goes downhill after that. Wasn't that gripping, unfortunately. ( )