Knightley and Son

smileyguy246 - The once highly in-demand detective Alan Knightley has just woken up after an unexplained incident kept him asleep for four years. While he was out cold, his son, Darkus, took it upon himself to read of all his dad's old cases, and he's learned a lot about the art of detection. It's a good thing too—because suddenly the duo find themselves caught up in a crazy conspiracy that involves a group of villainous masterminds (who keep appearing and then vanishing), some high-speed car chases (that will have everyone fastening their seat belts), and a national, bestselling book with the power to make people do terrible, terrible things. But because Alan is still suffering the effects of his coma, he tends to, well, fall asleep at the worst possible moments, Meaning that young Darkus might just have to solve this mystery . . . by himself.

January 20, 2014
What if The Secret were evil? That’s what 13-year-old Darkus Knightley and his father seem to be up against in Gavin’s debut, in which a self-help book called The Code appears to be tied to a rash of criminal activity. Darkus adores his father, private investigator Alan Knightley, though it isn’t always easy: Alan never betrays much emotion, and that’s when he’s conscious (he’s been in a comalike trance for four years). Darkus has memorized his father’s case files, which comes in handy after Alan suddenly awakens, ready to take on the Combination, a criminal organization he believes is “responsible for almost every unexplained crime, both great and small, in towns and cities across the country... and possibly even the world.” Cerebral and humorless “disciples of reason,” Darkus and Alan aren’t the most engaging team, and the supporting cast is underutilized, especially the women, whether it’s Darkus’s mother, his revenge-driven stepsister, or his father’s Polish housekeeper, who’s the center of too many “jokes” about her stilted English. The action picks up toward the end, but it’s a long haul to get there. Ages 10–12.