Genre: Mystery
Publishing year: 2006
Publisher: Miramax
Rating: 4/5
Synopsis:
Fletcher Moon has never been like
other kids. For one thing, he first had to suffer the humiliating nickname
“Half Moon” because of his short stature. But the real reason Fletcher is
different is that ever since he was a baby, he’s had a nose for sniffing out
mysteries. And after graduating at the top of his Internet class, he is
officially certified as the youngest detective in the world. He even has a
silver-plated detective’s badge to prove it. Everything is going along fine
until two things happen: a classmate hires him to solve a crime, and his prized
badge is stolen. All signs point to the town’s most notorious crime family, the
Sharkeys.
As Fletcher follows the clues,
evidence of a conspiracy begins to emerge. But before he can crack the case,
Fletcher finds himself framed for a serious crime. To clear his name, he will
have to pair up with the unlikeliest of allies and go on the run from the
authorities. Fletcher has twelve hours to find the guilty party-or he is the
guilty party.
Review:
I’ve always been a fan of Colfer;
you can see this in my review of one of his latest releases The Reluctant
Assassin here. I feel like this book may have been targeted for a younger
audience, but I was unable to find a recommended age on the cover. While this
can’t confirm my suspicion, it’s actually a tick in the pro column for this
book. It just bothers me when I read a book that has an age range on it, and I
don’t fall in that range. The cover is almost telling me to grow up. As if
that’s ever going to happen.
Now about this book, I enjoyed
the character development. This sounds like something I would put in an English
essay but is in fact true. Fletcher, or Half Moon as I prefer to call him,
seems to be a bright and likeable child. He just spends more time with detective
work, bordering on obsession than he does with other children his age. Not too
horrible, upon first look, but then I realized that he wasn’t merely withdrawn he
had no friends. He had a solitary informant, who is never to be mentioned again
after the first few chapters of the book, but he has no friends. What brought
an excellent close to this book in my opinion wasn’t the solving of a case, but
more on that in a minute, it was this quote.
“You’ve already been thinking
about this haven’t you? You already have a name. Let me guess: Moon
Investigations.” I grinned at my new partner. “You’re half right,” I said.
He has a partner, a friend who
shares his hobby and that sounds absolutely cheesy and overdone, but I think it
was a sweet ending. The tie in to the title was nice as well.
Another change I saw in Half Moon
was by the end of the book he has learned that grey areas exist, whereas before
he saw everything in black and white. Spending time as a runaway and fugitive
with a crime family helped to give him a new perspective.
Okay the case solving could have
been complex, this is what leads me to believe that a younger audience was
intended, but even with the answer becoming apparent quickly, this is still a
marvelous book. A small irritant was the pro-Apple comments that kept popping
up. It was an iPod that was stolen not simply an mp3 player, and Half Moon uses
an iBook to search the internet not a nondescript laptop. As I said irritating,
but really a minor concern. I give it a four out of five because I could find
no other fault. Truly a quick, easy, and happy read.
Question: Have you ever had a
hobby that drew your focus away from everything else? Did your friends and
family support or encourage you to pursue this hobby or did they frown on it as
Fletcher’s parents and classmates did?
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