Skip to main content

Kidnap on the California Comet - MG Leonard and Sam Sedgman


After the excitement of his adventures on the Highland Falcon Thief, Harrison Beck can't wait for the opportunity to go on another amazing train journey. So when his Uncle Nat invites him aboard the California Comet, the iconic three day train journey from Chicago to San Francisco, he leaps at the chance to travel. But when the daughter of billionaire entrepreneur August Reza goes missing en route, Hal finds himself with another mystery to solve. Can he uncover the kidnapper before the journey's end?

Kidnap on the California Comet is the second instalment of the Adventures on Trains series written by the wonderful M.G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman. The first book, The Highland Falcon Thief was a delightful mystery involving a jewel thief (read my review here) and introduced us to Hal, our main train sleuth and his transport-loving-journalist-uncle Nat. I absolutely loved The Highland Falcon Thief and as with all series was apprehensive that this wouldn't be as great but the duo have created a story that pulls you in just as much (if not more?) than the first and holds its own within the series. 

Once more the book centres around Hal and Uncle Nat off on a locomotive adventure - this time to America on the California Comet taking it's famous journey between Chicago and San Francisco. Between competing with jet lag, making new American friends and battling homesickness Hal finds himself again embroiled in the middle of a mystery when wealthy train carriage owner, August Reza's daughter, Marianne, is kidnapped.  

Just like in the first Adventures on Trains, Hal immediately jumps into detective mode and once again his musings are recorded via his sketchbook. Elisa Paganelli provides the illustrations in the book again and I love how Hal is described drawing a scene only for you to turn the page and the scene be brought to life right in front of you. Her illustrations really do help to bring the story alive through Hal's eyes. 

Hal is again joined by companions. This time he befriends two American children also travelling, Mason and Hadley - the former a talented impressionist who loves mimicking Hal's accent and the latter an impressive magician who teaches Hal a trick or two along the way. Together they make a formidable detective team and I enjoyed the friendship between them which came across as genuine and representative of children's friendships on holiday. 
 
Marianne Reza's disappearance is yet another complicated mystery for Hal to solve and one with many twists and turns that you never expect. I love picking up the clues at the same time as Hal and despite all the evidence being there I still never manage to solve the case before he ultimately cracks it! 

Kidnap on the California Comet is fast-paced and action-packed and I was hooked from the start, reading the whole thing in one sitting (something that doesn't happen that often). It's the perfect second book and I'm eagerly anticipating the return of Hal's adventures in Murder on the Safari Star. 

A head-scratching train mystery filled with action and deception. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Tour | Mirrorland - Carole Johnstone

  Cat lives in Los Angeles,  about as far away as she can get from her estranged twin sister El and No. 36 Westeryk Road, the imposing gothic house in Edinburgh where they grew up. As girls, they invented Mirrorland, a dark, imaginary place under the pantry stairs full of pirates, witches, and clowns. These days Cat rarely thinks about their childhood home, or the fact that El now lives there with her husband Ross. But when El mysteriously disappears after going out on her sailboat, Cat is forced to return to the grand old house, which has scarcely changed in twenty years. No. 36 Westeryk Road is still full of shadowy, hidden corners, and at every turn Cat finds herself stumbling on long-held secrets and terrifying ghosts from the past. Because someone—El?—has left Cat clues all over the house: a treasure hunt that leads right back to Mirrorland, where she knows the truth lies crouched and waiting…   Mirrorland  is a thriller on paper, but very different to any I...
2 comments
Read more

Things To Do Before the End of the World - Emily Barr

1. Live your best life. 2. Uncover family secrets. 3. Trust no one What would you do when you hear the news that humans have done such damage to the earth that there might only be a limited amount of safe air left - a year's worth at most? You'd work through your bucket list, heal rifts, do everything you've never been brave enough to do before? Olivia is struggling to do any of this. What it is she truly wants to do? Who do she wants to be? Then out of the blue comes contact from a long-lost cousin Olivia didn't even know existed. Natasha is everything Olivia wants to be and more. And as the girls meet up for a long, hot last summer, Olivia finds Natasha's ease and self-confidence having an effect on her. But Natasha definitely isn't everything she first appears to be. Emily Barr is no stranger to YA literature having penned many a well-received title including The One Memory of Flora Banks and The Girl Who Came Out of the Woods. Her latest offering, Things To ...
2 comments
Read more

Blog Tour | Lies Like Wildfire - Jennifer Lynn Alvarez

In Gap Mountain, California, everyone knows about fire season. And no one is more vigilant than 18-year-old Hannah Warner, the sheriff’s daughter and aspiring FBI agent. That is until this summer. When Hannah and her best friends accidentally spark an enormous and deadly wildfire, their instinct is to lie to the police and the fire investigators. But as the blaze roars through their rural town and towards Yosemite National Park, Hannah’s friends begin to crack and she finds herself going to extreme lengths to protect their secret. Because sometimes good people do bad things. And if there’s one thing people hate, it’s liars. Lies Like Wildfire had me gripped from page one.  An opening where the protagonist is searching for a body? Tick.  A friendship group facing their ultimate test? Tick.  The threat of the police uncovering the truth on every page? Tick.  It has everything you want from a gripping page-turner and is so fast-paced that I genuinely couldn't put it dow...
Post a Comment
Read more