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When recently orphaned Barnaby Gaunt is sent to stay with his uncle on a beautiful remote island off the coast of Canada, he is all set to have the perfect summer holiday. Except there is one small problem: His uncle is trying to kill him.
Heir to a ten-million-dollar fortune, Barnaby tries to tell everyone and anyone that his uncle is after his inheritance, but no one will believe him. That is, until he tells the only other child on the island, Chrissie, who concludes that there is only one way for Barnaby to stop his demonic uncle: He will just have to kill him first. With the unexpected help of One-Ear, the aged cougar who has tormented the island for years, Chrissie and Barnaby hatch a foolproof plan.
Playful, dark, and witty, Let's Kill Uncle is a surprising tale of two ordinary children who conspire to execute an extraordinary murder-and get away with it.
Praise for Let's Kill Uncle:
"Playfully sinister."-Washington Post
"A dark, whimsical, startling book, far ahead of its time."-Donna Tartt
Very readable, but one of the oddest plots I have ever encountered.
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Posted June 7, 2011
Two young kids arrive on a small, backward, and lightly populated island in Canada for the summer. He from boarding school to stay with his mysterious uncle; she to stay with a friend of her hard-working mother. But Uncle is off traveling and he is placed with a kindly older, childless couple until Uncle returns. As the only kids on the island, they slowly develop a friendship and kinship. Their exploits are fun to follow; they're not the best-behaved kids and require some handling by the local Mountie as well as their hosts. But when the strange Uncle finally returns, we learn that the young man is to inherit his dead parents' fortune when he turns 21. But, of course, Uncle wants the money, and has devious plans on how to get it. The young comrades slowly discover Uncle's plans and try to get help from the local Mountie, a torn-eared old cougar (an actual character in the story!) and others. But no one believes them, the little rascals. So they decide they have to solve that problem on their own---before Uncle solves his. Then the jousting begins. It's amazing how these young kids manage to stay a step ahead of this very evil Uncle. And how, slowly, other characters get drawn into the game. And it's a wild ride for the rest of the book. It's not great literature, but it is a mesmerizing mystery with characters rich and unique. I had so much fun reading this book.
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Overview
When recently orphaned Barnaby Gaunt is sent to stay with his uncle on a beautiful remote island off the coast of Canada, he is all set to have the perfect summer holiday. Except there is one small problem: His uncle is trying to kill him.
Heir to a ten-million-dollar fortune, Barnaby tries to tell everyone and anyone that his uncle is after his inheritance, but no one will believe him. That is, until he tells the only other child on the island, Chrissie, who concludes that ...