Ruby Redfort: Blink and You Die

Ruby Redfort: Blink and You Die by Lauren Child (Harper Collins Children’s Books) HB RRP $19.99  

ISBN 978000734285

Reviewed by Karen Hendriks

Award-winning English author Lauren Child has written the last book in her thrilling Ruby Redfort series. Blink and You Die is the sixth book in the fascinating world of super sleuth extraordinaire Ruby Redfort.  

Both boys and girls who are into code-cracking puzzles, reading maps and who also love a mystery to solve will find this book a perfect read. Readers enter the fictional world of secret agent Ruby who lives as an ordinary child in an ordinary world… until you look closer and scratch the surface.  All is not what it seems. Readers from 8 to 14 years would enjoy entering a children’s world full of mystery and becoming a secret agent.

The Count is a dark figure who wants Ruby dead. He is always lurking in the background shadows.  You can feel he is there but you can’t see him.

‘And one should always, in the words of Mrs Digby:

Fear the wolf that other wolves fear.’

Ruby knows to trust no one at Spectrum the spy agency, but characters who offer love and support surround her such as Mrs Digby the ever-faithful, rock-solid housekeeper who comes to Ruby’s rescue. Then there is Clancy, her bestie who is not a secret agent, but the most honest and reliable friend a girl could ask for. Hitch is the house butler, but really like a bodyguard to Ruby and a secret agent, too. He says, ‘Jeepers, kid relax a little. Anyone would think you were about to meet with the Grim Reaper.’

Without giving too much away, although there is evil around, Ruby is surrounded by goodness, too.  All is revealed at the Eye Ball.     

The story is set in the 1970’s back in the day before iphones and Internet so it is not as easy to source information.  The skills of note-taking and observation are crucial to solving the mysteries but you need the skill set of a genius master code cracker. ENTER RUBY’S WORLD IF YOU DARE!

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The House of Puzzles

The House of Puzzles by Richard Newsome (Text Publishing)
PB RRP   $16.99
ISBN   9781922147301
Reviewed by Wendy Fitzgerald www.wendyfitzgerald.com.au

What would you do if your great aunt suddenly died in London and left her 30 billion dollars to you? Just imagine – it all was to go to you. Surely that much money would shield you from any world problems: right? Wrong.  

But this is exactly what happened to Newsome’s main character, twelve year old Gerald Wilkins in The Billionaire’s Curse. Gerald should not have had any worries for the rest of his life.  However there is a catch- Gerald’s Aunt Gertrude also left a secret letter that instructed Gerald to find her killer and see to it they were punished. One other problem- whoever killed Aunt Gertrude is now chasing Gerald.

The Billionaire’s Curse is the first book in Newsome’s Billionaire Series. It won the inaugural Text Prize for YA and children’s writing in 2008. I very much enjoyed the quirky characters and the action-packed plot.  

 In August 2014 The House of Puzzles was launched. This is the fifth book in Newsome’s very popular Billionaire series. Once again I was swept up in the twists and turns of this fast mystery thriller.  

In The House of Puzzles we are led from the Louvre in Paris to a school camp in the frosty Scottish Highlands and finally on to the Billionaire’s Club ‘House of Puzzles’ in New York. At the school camp in Scotland we reunite with Gerald and his friends Ruby Valentine, Sam Valentine and Felicity Upham.  Straight away they are thrown into an intriguing string of dangerous situations and mysterious puzzles. 

Will these four friends be able to complete the challenges of the Triple Crown? Can Alex Baranov charm Ruby? Will Sam crack the bizarre code of the Voynich manuscript? Who can save Professor McElderry from the evil Sir Mason Green? Will Gerald and Alex survive a night together inside the Billionaire’s Club House of Puzzles in New York? Will anyone find the infamous perpetual motion machine? Why do so many people want it? And exactly what does the stolen painting- Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People have to do with any of this? These are some of the questions that kept me reading this book to the end.

I recommend The House of Puzzles to kids 10+ who like thrilling fast-paced plot-driven stories packed with adventure, intrigue and mystery. The other books in this series are The Billionaire’s Curse, The Emerald Casket, The Mask of Destiny and the Crystal Code.