Sisters Grimm – The Unusual Suspects (book 2) by Michael Buckley

Character List: new characters and updates on characters from Sisters Grimm (book 1)

Gepetto: toy store owner, robbed every night for 2 weeks

Lilliputians: the ones who broke into Gepetto’s store

Pinocchio: no one has heard from him in 200 years

Mirror: balding, short, squat man in the mirror (walk-in closet of magical items)

Flying Monkeys: summoned by the witch’s golden cap, unable to grant Sabrina’s wish

Mr. Casper Sheepshank: guidance counselor (a surprising everafter)

Mr. Hamelin= principal, everafter is the Pied Piper

Ms. Snow White = Daphne’s teacher (everafter)

Mr. Grumpner = Sabrina’s teacher, end up dead on her 1st day of school

Toby = in Sabrina’s class, bully (everafter)

Wendell Hamelin = in Sabrina’s class (Principal’s son) an everafter with similar skills of his father

Ms. Spangler = gym teacher

Natalie = in Sabrina’s class, Sabrina gave her a black eye on the 1st day of school (everafter)

Bella = in Sabrina’s class, blond hair (everafter)

Julie Murphy = in Daphne’s class

The Widow (Queen of Crows) = everafter from Snow Queen, warns the Grimm family of danger

Charlie = school janitor

Frog Prince & Princess = lost their child to Rumpelstiltskin

Little Miss Muffett (Mrs. Arachnid) & Spider = lost their child to Rumpelstiltskin

Beauty & beats = lost their child to Rempelstiltskin

Rumpelstiltskin = one of the most deranged and mysterious fairy-tale creatures, feeds off the emotions of others, and can be explosive

 

Book Review/Summary:

Picking up only a few days after book 1 ended the Grimm Family is solving another mystery for the Everafter community.  There are many shocking twists along the way, such as Mayor Charming deputizing the Grimm Family, Mayor Charming and Snow White agreeing to go on a date, and the biggest twist is who some characters really are.

I was surprised I found myself reading this book, but I must admit I like the stories that have mystical beings, or fairy-tale creatures, living alongside humans.  I really think this is a great book for young readers who might be too young to start reading Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, Magnus Chase, or Infernal Devices.

The main mystery takes places after a disastrous first day of school for Sabrina when she finds her teacher dead.  Sabrina still suspicious and trying to find her parents boils anger throughout the book.  Daphne is enjoying being a Grimm and detective, which makes Sabrina even more irate.  Puck is now living in the house, and is convinced that he needs to be Daphne and Sabrina’s bodyguard at school.  Wendell is trying to be a detective too and somehow gets involved in a plot to destroy the barrier, by some surprising characters.

Metaphors for anger and racism can be made from the story, but human nature is also at its most raw in teenagers and that was captured in this book.  The bigger mystery of the Scarlet Hand and who they are is left with a huge hint and cliff-hanger.  Hints were given, such as it is not a single person but a movement.  In the end there is enough to make a reader at least consider reading the next book in the series, while also satisfying the reader about the story they read.