A 6th grade student did a book talk on this book recently. She did such a great job of selling it I went out and bought a copy. I'm so glad I did. There was action and suspense from the very beginning. Horowitz has great pacing, he set the story up without it becoming boring. Also, even though it's a "kids" book I feel like it has some good vocabulary and adult ideas which kept me interested. I can't wait to read the others in the series.