Book Chop: Half-Moon Investigations

Title: HALF-MOON INVESTIGATIONS
Author: Eoin Colfer
Genre: Middle-grade non-spec fiction

Eoin Colfer is one of my favorite authors. His sheer brilliance with humor, plotting, voice and characters will never fail to amaze me. I've loved his other works, most notably AIRMAN and THE SUPERNATURALIST, and this book didn't disappoint.

It's set in modern-day Ireland, about a boy, Fletcher "Half" Moon, whose pasttime is criminal investigations. He takes his work seriously, even to the point of having a contact in the police department (and he's not even in high school yet.) The book centers on one particular case where Half-Moon's friends start losing random and seemingly unconnected items, and they hire him to track them down.

What happens from there will take Half-Moon neck-deep into his most serious case ever, one that involves the actual police, and points to him as a prime suspect.

The book reads really easily, without talking down to the reader. Colfer's just talented that way. The jokes sneak up on you, hidden carefully in the narrative, and the characters are unique and memorable. It's like reading a CSI case that doesn't beat you over the head with clues. I'm 26 and I still didn't figure out the mystery until the end, and the hints were all there.

Content was clean, and the whole book overall was very entertaining.