Book Review: Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers by Chris Grabenstein (Riley Mack #1)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: A fun caper with lots of action and a cohesive story

Cons: Characters are a bit weak, but most kids won't care

The Bottom Line: Great book kids will love

Fill with lots of adventure

That they will race through




Trouble?   Only If You Cross Riley Mack

I’ve read and enjoyed all of Chris Grabenstein’s mysteries for adults.  When he branched out to kid’s books, I wasn’t interested in the first series he did, but I was intrigued by his new series.  Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers sounded like fun directly from the title, so I had to give it a shot.  I’m certainly glad I did.

Riley Mack has been labeled a troublemaker in his small town.  True, he does have an unfortunately shoplifting record (and I use that in every sense of the word).  But his biggest rep comes from the fact that he and his friends pool resources to help those being bullied.  And the bully is often ninth grader Gavin Brown.  Unfortunately, his father is the sheriff in town, and he learned to bully from his dad.

Riley has promised his parents that he and his friends will leave the Browns alone for the time being to avoid any more trouble.  The problem is that trouble just circles them.  When his friend’s dog is dognapped and the clues begin to point to Gavin, Riley can’t just sit still.  Can he and his friends find a way to regain the dog without getting into trouble?  And what else is brewing in town?

The characters jump off the page right away, and I never had a problem keeping them all straight.  That’s good since the book contains five main hero characters plus various family and enemies, and….  You get the picture.  However, it took me until the half-way point to really feel connected to any of them.  They have a couple of distinguishing characteristics each, but they aren’t really enough to turn them into full-fledged characters.  Plus one of them was very annoying.  By the end, I was fully on board, however.

And I don’t see the character issue as being that important to the target audience of 8-12 year olds.  I know I was more interested in a fast paced story at that age than I was characters.  (Probably why I devoured the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books so much back then.)  The action starts almost right away and keeps up until the climax.  There are several storylines and multiple capers that Riley leads his friends on over the course of the book, so there’s hard time for things to get boring.  And all of them come together in a surprising and fun way at the end.

One character likes to throw out big words, but he or someone else is always explaining them, so it won’t be an issue for the target upper elementary age group.  In fact, they’ll probably have fun expanding their vocabulary this way.  The rest of the writing shouldn’t be an issue for them at all.  I know I absolutely flew through the book, something I consider a good sign when I’m enjoying a kid’s book.

And enjoy I did.  Yes, I wish the characters were better, but in the end it’s a minor quibble.  I’ll be back for more adventures with Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers.