The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane Paperback – Illustrated, February 4, 2020

I really enjoyed this spooky YA mystery I read for Halloween. Emmy and her two friends Jack and Lola solved some mysteries, while others are still around for solving in the next part of the series. This is a book about finding the home and family of your heart, always a personal favorite theme of mine. The author’s writing style was well written, face moving and cleanly edited. I never had one of those typo jolts that have become all-too-frequent with KU books. All around 5 stars!

The influence of Harry Potter is strong in this debut novel, but I still found it an enjoyable story, well worth reading. The heroine is a brave, clever girl who meets challenges head-on but also thinks ahead. The subplot about her soccer/football prowess was a bit contrived (and also too much like HP's Quiddich experience). The main plot, about her long-lost father, led into well-worn paths, more like Harry Potter than like A Wrinkle in Time. The nasty conspiracy that the heroine uncovers has strong echoes of Voldemort's Death Eaters, but also includes a nice jab at Old Boy Networks through the ages.At least this story does not suddenly introduce a magic or supernatural element. I hope the sequel steers clear of magic, too.I have never attended a boarding school, though I have visited several schools in New England. Are the children really left to their own devices during most hours of the day and night? It seems very strange in comparison with American high schools, where students are supervised closely and hall monitors check everyone's pass. Whether the prep school in this book is realistic or not, it certainly is a great escapist environment for stressed-out middle-schoolers.

School is hard enough without a secret society spying on you. But it makes for a wonderful middle grade novel in Julia Nobel's The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane. At Wellsworth, a gothic boarding school in England, the worst villain Emmy Willick expects is Latin and loneliness until an unexpected letter gives her a perilous after school activity: unravel the mystery left by her missing father. Every clue she deciphers brings her closer to the truth but drags her deeper into a conspiracy stretching back centuries.By cleverly intertwining history into the narrative, Julia Nobel has crafted a page-turning mystery in which a charming cast whose true-to-life interactions make them feel real investigates a secret society whose menace is made worse because it could rationally exist. In addition, Nobel artfully walks the line of leaving enough clues to reward readers who hope to predict what comes next without leaving so many that the answer is obvious or so few that the truth comes out of nowhere. This makes the novel an excellent introduction to the genre, while providing twists that will keep more experienced readers guessing. Altogether The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane will earn Julia Nobel and the mystery genre many young fans.

So much fun! I couldn't stop reading

As an adult reading this Middle School book, it was entertaining yet frustrating at the same time. The parental neglect that seems to never be acknowledged is not okay. MC Emmy manages to make some friends & come out of her suffer in silence shell so as to not seem so much a doormat. The secret society aspect is very mysterious & eery with a believable background. Is this the greatest book ever? No. But it is entertaining with plenty of plot & character development hence the 3 stars. A quick read if you are in between books.

I bought this book for for fourth graders.

This is a great middle grade mystery book. It reminded me a lot of Harry Potter, but on a smaller scale and without magic. It still had a good amount of the same vibes though.The characters were interesting and distinct, and the interactions between them felt organic and believable. It was a good plot that moved along quickly, keeping me engaged. And the secrets kept me guessing until the end.

British boarding school? Secret society? Sign me up! I'd have devoured this as a middle-grader, and I devoured it now. Relatable characters, page-turning plot, and a pace that doesn't lag yet allows you to spend time in the engaging setting. Give this to your 8-12yo who gobbles up mysteries and they'll be back for the next in the series.