Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Dark Deeps: The Hunchback Assignments 2
Fiction Series
For ages 12 and up
Random House, 2010 ISBN: 978-0385737852
Not long ago Modo, the shape-shifting hunchback, completed his first mission for the Permanent Association. Now fully healed from the injuries that he sustained during that operation, Modo is ready to get back to work. Modo’s boss, Mr. Socrates, wants Modo to travel to New York with another agent called Octavia. Modo and Octavia have worked together before and they make a great team, though Modo does have some strong feelings for the beautiful young woman.
Posing as husband and wife, Modo and Octavia travel to New York to find a missing British agent and to learn what they can about a French agent called Colette Brunet. Apparently, Colette is looking for something called Ictineo. If the French are interested in this “fish ship,” or sea monster, then so are the British. There is even the possibility that this is a new secret weapon created by the Clockwork Guild, which is a sobering thought. Modo knows all to well that the Clockwork Guild is a very dangerous organization.
When they get to New York, Modo and Octavia learn that the British agent they were sent to find was murdered not long ago. They find a note in his home, which has some numbers written on it. These turn out to be latitude and longitude coordination’s for a location to the south of Iceland. When they arrive at the correct coordinates, nothing happens for a while. Then something rams into their ship and Modo is tipped overboard. Modo will not last long in the freezing waters of the north Atlantic and he is going to need a miracle to get him out of this fix.
In this second Hunchback Assignments title, Arthur Slade takes his readers on another adventure that is full of colorful characters, fantastical machines, and grave dangers. The story is thrilling and fascinating, and readers will be eager to find out what Modo will do next.
