The Penultimate Peril

The cover for this book might be one of my favorite of all time. The cool look of the fancy hotel concierge outfits with shades. The mysterious other guests. I spent a solid five minutes before reading trying to figure out who was who on the cover. Turns out an apt metaphor and foreshadowing of the book's premise. It was fun to hear about all of the people from past books. And I love watching the kids make their full turn to making villainous choices backed against the wall and struggling with that. One of the strengths of the series has been the bite sized length of the books. But this one is the first that felt too short. It might be the longest book yet but it had too many people doing too many fun and mysterious things to really work in the traditional short format. He had a good ending with the burning of the building and them waving goodbye to everyone as the elevator made all the stops. But it wasn't 100% what I wanted. Though a nice penultimate book in the series. Looking forward to seeing how he wraps it up. I think Lemony should be now making an appearance soon.