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Finnegan Zwake #1
The Horizontal Man: Finnegan Zwake #1
Thirteen-year-old Finnegan Zwake stumbles upon a corpse in his apartment house basement and joins forces with Uncle Stoppard, a famed mystery writer, to find the thief stealing gold artifacts found by his missing archaeologist parents
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
3 people are currently reading
95 people want to read
About the author
Michael Dahl
551 books155 followersMichael Dahl is the author of over 200 books for children and young adults, including the acclaimed Finnegan Zwake mystery series and The Library of Doom. His works have earned Edgar and Anthony Award nominations and national design honors. As Editorial Director at Stone Arch Books, he champions engaging, award-winning stories that inspire young readers everywhere.
He also writes under aliases Chris Carey, Rick Thomas, and Mark Ziegler.
He also writes under aliases Chris Carey, Rick Thomas, and Mark Ziegler.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 24, 2014
Title: The Horizontal Man
Author: Michael Dahl
Lexile: Unknown
Star Rating: 2 Stars
I didn't entirely like the book because I've never been a fan of mystery and the mystery was kind of hard to follow. It was ok because it was interesting following how they solved the mystery and I liked the crimes and how they were played out. I didn't like the main character though because he seemed a bit immature.
My favorite part of the book was when Finnegan snuck out of the car when he was kidnapped. My least favorite part of the book was how Finnegan wouldn't stop blaming Pablo and how he would interrupt the police to say that Pablo did it and that the spoon was "his". I would recommend this book to people who like a good mystery but not to people who are easily annoyed be whinny little kids.
Author: Michael Dahl
Lexile: Unknown
Star Rating: 2 Stars
I didn't entirely like the book because I've never been a fan of mystery and the mystery was kind of hard to follow. It was ok because it was interesting following how they solved the mystery and I liked the crimes and how they were played out. I didn't like the main character though because he seemed a bit immature.
My favorite part of the book was when Finnegan snuck out of the car when he was kidnapped. My least favorite part of the book was how Finnegan wouldn't stop blaming Pablo and how he would interrupt the police to say that Pablo did it and that the spoon was "his". I would recommend this book to people who like a good mystery but not to people who are easily annoyed be whinny little kids.
March 16, 2018
Engaging Hero; Decent Action/Adventure Mystery
Michael Dahl is an interesting author whose work covers a wide range of genres and age categories. I read and enjoyed the mysteries in his magician-themed Hocus Pocus Hotel series and tracked down one of these Finnegan Zwake books to give it a try. It was a happy find.
This book is a more traditional action/mystery in the general style of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, although our hero is younger, at thirteen. The setup is that Finn lives in an apartment with his Uncle, (who writes mystery books), because Finn's archaeologist parents disappeared while on an expedition. In this volume it turns out that the Zwakes left some valuable gold artifacts in the apartment building storage in the basement, and when Finn goes down to check it out he finds a dead body and that the artifacts are missing. Who is the murderer and who is the thief?
Most of the detecting takes place in the apartment building, and Finn and his Uncle make a good team. The suspects are interesting and there are lots of clues and false leads and dead ends. There's also a lot of lurking and sneaking and overhearing, with an action finish. The book wraps up with a monologue around the kitchen table during which everything is explained. This probably won't work for mystery purists, but I think young readers sometimes like a crisp, clear tying-up-the-loose threads monologue. Given the twists and turns and false tracks I was surprised by how briskly this moved along, but still the final wrap, while a bit abrupt, was fine by me.
Finn is a fine young hero. He can be a little childish and mopey, but he's pretty much the kind of bright, observant, resourceful hero kid detective you need. He has a fine relationship with his adult Uncle, which is a nice touch. The Uncle is sort of a jokester and Finn likes a bit of word play so there's a lot more punning and witty banter than you might expect. Actually, there was enough silly cross-talk in the opening pages that I despaired that this was going to be jokey and eventually annoying, but Dahl tunes down the clever punning early on and the narrative settles down.
So, it's very hard to find books for the pre-teen and early teen readers that have decent, fair mysteries and appealing kids. This hit those two sweet spots, so I was happy to have tracked the book down.
Michael Dahl is an interesting author whose work covers a wide range of genres and age categories. I read and enjoyed the mysteries in his magician-themed Hocus Pocus Hotel series and tracked down one of these Finnegan Zwake books to give it a try. It was a happy find.
This book is a more traditional action/mystery in the general style of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, although our hero is younger, at thirteen. The setup is that Finn lives in an apartment with his Uncle, (who writes mystery books), because Finn's archaeologist parents disappeared while on an expedition. In this volume it turns out that the Zwakes left some valuable gold artifacts in the apartment building storage in the basement, and when Finn goes down to check it out he finds a dead body and that the artifacts are missing. Who is the murderer and who is the thief?
Most of the detecting takes place in the apartment building, and Finn and his Uncle make a good team. The suspects are interesting and there are lots of clues and false leads and dead ends. There's also a lot of lurking and sneaking and overhearing, with an action finish. The book wraps up with a monologue around the kitchen table during which everything is explained. This probably won't work for mystery purists, but I think young readers sometimes like a crisp, clear tying-up-the-loose threads monologue. Given the twists and turns and false tracks I was surprised by how briskly this moved along, but still the final wrap, while a bit abrupt, was fine by me.
Finn is a fine young hero. He can be a little childish and mopey, but he's pretty much the kind of bright, observant, resourceful hero kid detective you need. He has a fine relationship with his adult Uncle, which is a nice touch. The Uncle is sort of a jokester and Finn likes a bit of word play so there's a lot more punning and witty banter than you might expect. Actually, there was enough silly cross-talk in the opening pages that I despaired that this was going to be jokey and eventually annoying, but Dahl tunes down the clever punning early on and the narrative settles down.
So, it's very hard to find books for the pre-teen and early teen readers that have decent, fair mysteries and appealing kids. This hit those two sweet spots, so I was happy to have tracked the book down.
June 2, 2017
We read this YA mystery as a family. We loved it, but felt the ending wasn't as good as the rest of the book. The last couple of pages were just summary so we felt let down since it ended so quickly. It's got a great voice and some interesting action. I'm not sure we will read more in the series, but we might. I'm sure many younger teens will love this book.
May 8, 2014
The Horizontal Man
Michael Dahl
Lexile: don't know
Star rating: 4 stars
Yes i liked the book for the following reasons First It was fun trying ti figure out the mystery of who killed a man, who was the man, who stole the gold horizontal man and who stole Fin's picture of his parents. It was fun putting the pieces of close and finding out the mystery.Second There was some action like when fin fights the criminal, when almost everyone in the apartment jumped on Mr.Barrymore, and when Fin gets kidnap by the criminal. To me solving mysteries and having action is a fun book because It keeps you wondering who is the criminal and what is going to happen to the character.
My favorite part of the story is when Fin gets kidnaped because you are wondering what is he going to do now and how is he going to get back home. Thats how I get engaged to a book is when I need to know what is going to happen next. My least favorite part is that the criminal falls because I don't like people dyeing at the end. They may have done something bad but it just bothers me when people dye at the end because I don't like sad endings it makes me sad. I would recommend this book to people who likes mystery or action because in the book there is a battle against the criminal and there is a mystery of who stole the golden horizontal man and who killed a man in the basement.
Michael Dahl
Lexile: don't know
Star rating: 4 stars
Yes i liked the book for the following reasons First It was fun trying ti figure out the mystery of who killed a man, who was the man, who stole the gold horizontal man and who stole Fin's picture of his parents. It was fun putting the pieces of close and finding out the mystery.Second There was some action like when fin fights the criminal, when almost everyone in the apartment jumped on Mr.Barrymore, and when Fin gets kidnap by the criminal. To me solving mysteries and having action is a fun book because It keeps you wondering who is the criminal and what is going to happen to the character.
My favorite part of the story is when Fin gets kidnaped because you are wondering what is he going to do now and how is he going to get back home. Thats how I get engaged to a book is when I need to know what is going to happen next. My least favorite part is that the criminal falls because I don't like people dyeing at the end. They may have done something bad but it just bothers me when people dye at the end because I don't like sad endings it makes me sad. I would recommend this book to people who likes mystery or action because in the book there is a battle against the criminal and there is a mystery of who stole the golden horizontal man and who killed a man in the basement.
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May 19, 2014The Horizontal man
Lexile:unknown
Star rating ****
The Horizontal Man, turned out doing the unexpected. By the cover I thought that this would be so old fashioned, boring old mystery so I'm sitting their the first day " great Language Arts just got more boring" we'll I was in for quite a surprise. I turned out reading ahead of the class and finishing a whole week before everyone (don't tell Mr Wobbema ) . This book
Lexile:unknown
Star rating ****
The Horizontal Man, turned out doing the unexpected. By the cover I thought that this would be so old fashioned, boring old mystery so I'm sitting their the first day " great Language Arts just got more boring" we'll I was in for quite a surprise. I turned out reading ahead of the class and finishing a whole week before everyone (don't tell Mr Wobbema ) . This book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 13, 2009
i loved loved loved this book and kept nagging my tacher to keep reading it the book was intence and it twisted with the next thing to the next clue the best mysterie of my life!!
read this book!!!!!!!!
read this book!!!!!!!!
September 12, 2015
Really good book! The characters are fun and the action just keeps on coming! The end is full with surprises and anyone would like it! It was a little too short for me, I kind of like a lengthy book so I don't leave the story too quickly. Definitely add this book to your to-read section!
February 11, 2009
this is one of the books you can't judge by its cover its a great book!! its mysterious intence and adventurous it's a mystery book which i didn't really like but this one is a good one
December 18, 2011
Perfect for my nephews! Thanks to Kathy Baxter for the recommendation.
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December 26, 2015I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12541468
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12541468
May 17, 2021
Kinda gruesome for Middle Grade, but still fairly enjoyable.
March 16, 2016
I love this series of books.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews