A Game Most Foul by Alison Gervais
Product details
Web ID: 18496881Teen mystery with paranormal elements
A Game Most Foul is a young adult mystery with paranormal elements. California teen Jules Montgomery has been accepted into a writing seminar in London, taught by one Professor Watson. Just as she’s settling in and getting to know the other students, a girl from their group disappears during a class trip to Oxford. Jules, along with her fellow students Percy and Suruthi, decides to investigate—only to discover that their professor is one half of the legendary detective duo Sherlock and Holmes. Not only is he somehow immortal, but Sherlock is too. I’ve enjoyed Alison Gervais’s writing in the past, but this book was a miss for me. It felt dull and flat, with too many mundane details in the beginning that bogged down the storytelling before the mystery even began. The mix of teen amateur crime-solving and paranormal elements didn’t come together for me, and I didn’t enjoy how the story ended.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A Contemporary Twist on Holmes and Watson
Thank you to NetGalley, Blink YA Books, Blackstone Publishing, Alison Gervais, and Khristine Hvam (audio narrator) for the opportunity to read and listen to the audiobook of A Game Most Foul in exchange for an honest review. The story follows Jules, a creative writer attending a summer writing seminar at Ashford College in England. One aspect of characterization I really appreciate is her use of a hearing aide, which adds a nice feature of diversity. The hearing loss is recent, and Jules doesn't seem comfortable sharing that as a part of herself just yet, so she does try to hide it from her seminar classmates. She was really hoping the seminar would help her with her dream novel, but even seminar's may not have the power to end writer's block. When a newfound friend and classmate goes missing when visiting a door that inspires C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, no one seems concerned. People do what they want, right? but the weird thing is that she was RIGHT next to Jules and suddenly...gone without a trace. Jules and two of her other newfound friends/classmates find the disappearance to be worth looking into, even if the police and Professor Watson don't find the disappearance to be anything out of the ordinary. Jules, Percy, and Suruthi find themselves joined by a man who frequents her aunt's antique shop, by no other name than Sherlock Holmes! Of course, Holmes is perfect for mystery solving, but what's more, how is it that centuries-old fictional characters are making an appearance? Now Jules has two mysteries to solve, and she hopes she can find her friend in time. This is a fun mystery novel with a twist on the characters of Holmes and Watson being alive and real (you'll just have to read for yourself to determine how this works). Sherlock Holmes fans will certainly appreciate what is going on with the characters and events in this novel. It is also a perfect mystery for a contemporary audience. Teen and new adult readers, as well as aspiring writers, will get thorough enjoyment out of this fun stand-alone mystery!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Holmes & Watson like you've never seen them
3.5 stars When I picked up A Game Most Foul by Alison Gervais, I was expecting a young adult mystery with a little bit of ‘magical realism’ thrown in (with the Holmes & Watson angle) and a dash of romance. And I got all of those things – and enjoyed them. But this book also took a direction I was NOT expecting, a couple of twists that kept me locked into the story, my mind whirring as I tried to put the pieces together. I’m still mulling over these twists, to be honest, and -while I’m not completely sure how I feel about them yet – I can’t argue the fact that the author’s clever plotting here definitely got my attention and kept it. When we meet her, our main protagonist Jules (short for Juliet) is excited and nervous about the very exclusive writing intensive for teens that she’s been admitted to in London over the summer. I immediately liked Jules’ personality and the various layers to her character, from how she navigates being hard-of-hearing in the awkward world of adolescence to her exploration of what her love of writing will look like long term, and her low-key attraction to one of her classmates (Percy). I also think that teen readers who are standing on the threshold between adolescence and adulthood, weighing their options and trying to find purpose, like Jules is will find her infinitely relatable. Two of her classmates in the writing seminar – Percy and Suruthi add vibrancy and humor to the mix (though I would have liked to see some deeper layers to each of them beyond the archetypes they represent), and the three of them make a formidable team. Especially when one of their classmates disappears and they realize just exactly who their writing professor and his oddball friend really are. That’s when you need to buckle up because the tone of the book and the direction of the plot shifts into something much more than a ‘simple’ missing persons case from here on out. Bottom Line: A Game Most Foul by Alison Gervais is an incarnation of Holmes and Watson like you’ve never seen before, a bit of the paranormal wrapped in mystery with a couple of stunning twists. The trio of Jules, Percy, and Sularthi are easy to picture – and easy to love – as teenagers who become fast friends who are drafted into service as amateur sleuths with the mysterious disappearance of their classmate. This is mostly a light and entertaining read that doesn’t require a lot of emotional investment or mental energy (and I mean that as a compliment) until those twists hit and then you’ll sit up and engage with the story on a whole other level. And while I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the ending, I would definitely read a sequel to see if a couple of loose ends (in my opinion) are tied up and explored further. (I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com