The Adventures of the Flash Gang: Episode One: Exploding Experiment

by S.J. Waugh, M.M. Downing

Overview

That brief, blinding dazzle? The blue smudge and lingering stink? The Flash Gang has struck again! They are the most notorious thieves in Pittsburgh, food-stealing crooks the police and newspapers say are highly trained and very dangerous. But eleven-year-old Lewis Carter isn’t a thief, he’s just homeless and hungry. The Flash is a recipe he invented from bits of his missing father’s scientific research. He uses it to pinch his dinners. It’s been going pretty well, until now…Now his recipe is stolen, and he is in the clutches of some rather nasty people. Enter tutu-wearing, starry-eyed, and all around extraordinary (she will tell you) Pearl Alice Clavell. She is on a mission to uncover a Nefarious Deed she’s convinced involves the Flash Gang. Rescuing Lewis is right up her alley. Truth is, a Nefarious Deed is afoot, one that threatens the entire country. It will take Lewis and Pearl joining forces to save the recipe and themselves against an enemy who will stop at nothing, including kidnapping, and, very possibly, murder.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781646033225
Publisher:	Regal House Publishing
Publication date:	03/21/2023
Series:	The Adventures of the Flash Gang
Pages:	212
Sales rank:	1,025,484
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	710L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

M.M. Downing & S.J. Waugh joined forces to write the sort of stories they loved reading when they were ten. They also write books for teens and grownups, but that’s for another day. You can learn more about them and The Adventures of the Flash Gang here: mmdowning-sjwaugh.com

Editorial Reviews

"Packed with clever twists and ever-rising stakes, The Adventures of the Flash Gang is a bright flare of fun, a throwback gangster caper with irresistible kid sleuths and loads of page-turning action.” —Ben Guterson, author of the award-winning Winterhouse series and The Einsteins of Vista Point

“Delightfully Dickensian in spirit. Period events are woven seamlessly into this rollicking tale of friendship and fortitude. I challenge any reader not to fall in love with the histrionics and devil-may-care verve of Pearl Alice Clavell and her grease-smeared partner in crime, Lewis Carter.” —J.R. Potter, author of Thomas Creeper and the Gloomsbury Secret

“Clever, catchy dialogue and non-stop action catapult the reader from page to page till we land breathless, intrigued, and anxiously awaiting the Flash Gang’s next adventures.” —Kimberly Behre Kenna, author of Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade

“A loveable, ragtag cast you'll root for from page one.” —Kerry O’Malley Cerra, award winning author of Just a Drop of Water and Hear Me

From the Publisher

★ 2023-06-22
In Waugh and Downing’s middle-grade historical novel set in 1935, a boy with a dangerous secret and an unexpected sidekick flees ruthless enemies.

In Depression-era Pittsburgh, 11-year-old Lewis Carter is among the unhoused, hungry masses on the streets. His chemistry professor father left one day in 1934for a mysterious meeting and didn’t come back, and Lewis was thrown out by their landlady to fend for himself. He’s survived by using his father’s secret “Recipe” of substances that create a harmless but blinding flash of light, distracting shop owners long enough for him to purloin food. The thefts are rumored to be the work of criminals dubbed the “Flash Gang” by local newspapers, but hardened criminals, aware of the existence of the Recipe, want to exploit its potential for lethal violence; the villains manage to track Lewis down; needing more information, they kidnap him and imprison him in a house. At this point, the tense plot takes a seemingly farcical turn: Pearl Alice Clavell, a girl wearing a sparkly pink tutu and ballet slippers, appears and rescues Lewis. It turns out that Pearl equates every danger with an episode of the popular weekly radio show “The Adventures of Lola Lavender,” whose hero she imitates. The authors, however, movingly balance Pearl’s eccentricities with the emerging truth of her plight. Later, the novel provides a startling revelation of who the kidnappers are and how they plan to use Lewis’ father’s Recipe. Lewis is relatably vulnerable throughout: He’s worried about his father’s fate and physically limited by asthma attacks that are made worse by “the thick smog of Pittsburgh,” which settles in his lungs “like soggy grit.” The pair also find allies in a sympathetic reporter and some tough but supportive street kids. The historical underpinnings of the plot—including widespread corruption, local mobsters, and the rise of Hitler sympathizers—are well researched, capturing a crisis-ridden time and place with immediacy. The novel ends with an intriguing teaser for the next book in the series.

A tale with plenty of humor and suspense, memorable characters, and a plot that’s vividly informed by a challenging time in U.S. history.

Kirkus Reviews