What do you think?
Rate this book
Accidental Detectives #1
Lost Beneath Manhattan
In 'Accidental Detectives', book 11, a class trip to New York seems great until Joel tags along and gets lost. Ricky must keep his head and find his little brother.
132 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
10 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Sigmund Brouwer
260 books407 followersSigmund loves going to schools to get kids excited about reading, reaching roughly 80,000 students a year through his Rock&Roll Literacy Show.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 19, 2018
Ricky Kidd’s class trip to New York City turns into a disaster when he has to take his six-year-old brother with him. Joel is always disappearing, even at home, so Ricky is worried that Joel will do that on the trip. When an encounter with a security guard at a museum frightens him, Joel takes off, and Ricky begins to search for him. Where will the search lead him?
Author Sigmund Brower does a good job of making the premise believable. Of course, it doesn’t take much in a middle grade series for readers to root for the main characters to solve the crime. The book takes a little while to take off, but once it does, it never lets go until we reach the climax. The characters are a lot of fun; they get a lot of personality for a short book. Ricky wondering how God can allow suffering adds some depth to an already solid story.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
Author Sigmund Brower does a good job of making the premise believable. Of course, it doesn’t take much in a middle grade series for readers to root for the main characters to solve the crime. The book takes a little while to take off, but once it does, it never lets go until we reach the climax. The characters are a lot of fun; they get a lot of personality for a short book. Ricky wondering how God can allow suffering adds some depth to an already solid story.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
July 1, 2020
It occurred to me, in the midst of a scary and stressful pandemic, to revisit a few books from my middle school years. This book, although it claims to be #11 in the series, was the very first one published, I believe, so is really the first one in the series. Brouwer, as always, is an excellent scene-painter, describing Manhattan as small-town kids would see it with an expert eye. Ricky and his friends Ralphy, Mike, and Lisa, are all delightful and varied. Ricky's little brother Joel is basically a ninja-in-training. A couple of satisfying mysteries, several comedic interludes, and a surprising explanation of the problems of evil and society's lack of care for the homeless (from a Christian perspective) that are both compelling and concise make for an unusually enjoyable and unexpectedly sophisticated read.
May 20, 2022
This read was a really pleasant surprise! I found myself literally LOLing at times, and also completely loved the primarily-NYC setting (even if it wasn't all fun and games for most of the book).
Brouwer gives the kids a lot of credit on multiple levels, which i appreciated (and it challenged how much credit I give them myself, lol). I particularly enjoyed the degree of faith and cognizant awareness therein--refreshing!
Brouwer gives the kids a lot of credit on multiple levels, which i appreciated (and it challenged how much credit I give them myself, lol). I particularly enjoyed the degree of faith and cognizant awareness therein--refreshing!
November 22, 2024
When I say I’ve read Lost Beneath Manhattan (and every other book in The Accidental Detectives series) easily 100 times, I mean it. When I say the cover of the copy I’ve had since I was 10 is literally falling apart, I mean it. And when I say this book changed every possible aspect of my life, I mean it.
Lost Beneath Manhattan is our first introduction to Ricky Kidd, a typical 12-year-old with a peculiar talent for finding mysteries and getting himself accidentally involved. After a harrowing struggle to raise $200 to send his class to New York City for their end-of-school trip, Ricky and his friends Mike Andrews, Ralphy Zee, and Lisa Higgins are stuck watching out for Ricky’s younger brother Joel, who is given special permission to go on the trip and whose penchant for vanishing bodes ill in New York City. Once in New York, however, Ricky and his friends find their priorities shifted when Joel goes missing — this time for real — forcing them to take to the midnight streets of Manhattan in search of him. As Ricky and his friends are pulled deeper into the mystery, they are exposed to the harshness of poverty, the burden of responsibility, and the terrible truths of underground kidnapping rings.
It’s not every day you find a book that changes your life, but I did when I was nine years old, when I found The Disappearing Jewel of Madagascar (book 4 in this series) in my church library. It was the first book I ever fell in love with, and my family was kind enough to invest in several more books in The Accidental Detectives series for me for Christmas. Lost Beneath Manhattan became an instant favorite for me, if the tattered corners and well-worn pages are any indication.
<i>Lost Beneath Manhattan was the first book written in The Accidental Detectives series. Sigmund Brouwer does a fantastic job of setting the tone right off the bat — humorous, relatable, and aimed at 12-year-olds who are stuck at an age where their developing intelligence and pragmatism feels useless. It’s an intense story, especially for its genre, and Brouwer elevates himself among his peers by not dumbing it down or trying to make it less of a harrowing tale. I wouldn’t be surprised a bit if he drew inspiration from the 1979 cult film The Warriors, because this has all the vibes of that very-much-not-a-kids-story film.
Lost Beneath Manhattan always stood out to me for the way it tackles some tough issues. but Brouwer doesn’t shy away from incorporating some hard-hitting themes along the way. Ricky and friends’ encounters with various homeless people — some bitter, some angry, some kind, some cruel, some hopeless — brings a distinct realism into the book and hammers home the message that stereotypes are often deceiving. Brouwer always manages to balance this contrast in The Accidental Detectives: a fun, exciting mystery coupled with a real-world issue for middle-grades kids to start thinking about. The series is ultimately a Christian one, always teaching some kind of God-centric message, but Lost Beneath Manhattan hits the question a lot of 12-year-olds probably have: Why does God let bad things happen to so many people? Ricky finally gets some closure on that topic at the end of the book from Brother Phillip, and it’s worth a read just for that.
Lost Beneath Manhattan establishes the formula that Brouwer follows for basically all The Accidental Detectives books: a comedic opening scene that kicks off the main story, the introduction of the mystery and suspects, a series of funny interludes between Ricky and his friends, something serious that raises the stakes, a lengthy pursuit of clues, an exciting final sequence where everything gets wrapped up, and a closing vignette that ties everything together. Brouwer also establishes some of the tropes that show up in nearly every book in the series — Ricky’s habit of fainting, Joel’s inconvenient eccentricities, an elaborate prank that lands the gang in trouble, a fiasco surrounding Joel’s teddy bear, Ricky having romantic tension with Lisa, the gang’s obsession with baseball, Ricky getting kissed by a pretty girl but embarrassed in some other way, etc. Of course, we also have the recurring theme of fairly incompetent grown-ups letting the kids do all the sleuthing — — but some suspension of belief is always required.
It’s hard to put into words what a book can mean to a lonely fourth-grade girl, but all I can say is that my obsession with The Accidental Detectives probably kept me from losing my mind at a time when the whole world was confusing. In reading this series, I had four best friends, exposure to a solid writing style, and abundant inspiration to write my own mystery novels and start my own detective agency (especially interesting since Ricky and his friends are never an actual detective agency; just a group that manages to get in trouble constantly). Lost Beneath Manhattan is a solid entry in the series, and the brotherly relationship between Ricky and Joel speaks volumes for the emotional stakes The Accidental Detectives involves. Sigmund Brouwer, if you ever read this review, please know that if you never reached a single other person in the world, you changed one lonely little girl’s life for the better.
Lost Beneath Manhattan is our first introduction to Ricky Kidd, a typical 12-year-old with a peculiar talent for finding mysteries and getting himself accidentally involved. After a harrowing struggle to raise $200 to send his class to New York City for their end-of-school trip, Ricky and his friends Mike Andrews, Ralphy Zee, and Lisa Higgins are stuck watching out for Ricky’s younger brother Joel, who is given special permission to go on the trip and whose penchant for vanishing bodes ill in New York City. Once in New York, however, Ricky and his friends find their priorities shifted when Joel goes missing — this time for real — forcing them to take to the midnight streets of Manhattan in search of him. As Ricky and his friends are pulled deeper into the mystery, they are exposed to the harshness of poverty, the burden of responsibility, and the terrible truths of underground kidnapping rings.
It’s not every day you find a book that changes your life, but I did when I was nine years old, when I found The Disappearing Jewel of Madagascar (book 4 in this series) in my church library. It was the first book I ever fell in love with, and my family was kind enough to invest in several more books in The Accidental Detectives series for me for Christmas. Lost Beneath Manhattan became an instant favorite for me, if the tattered corners and well-worn pages are any indication.
<i>Lost Beneath Manhattan was the first book written in The Accidental Detectives series. Sigmund Brouwer does a fantastic job of setting the tone right off the bat — humorous, relatable, and aimed at 12-year-olds who are stuck at an age where their developing intelligence and pragmatism feels useless. It’s an intense story, especially for its genre, and Brouwer elevates himself among his peers by not dumbing it down or trying to make it less of a harrowing tale. I wouldn’t be surprised a bit if he drew inspiration from the 1979 cult film The Warriors, because this has all the vibes of that very-much-not-a-kids-story film.
Lost Beneath Manhattan always stood out to me for the way it tackles some tough issues. but Brouwer doesn’t shy away from incorporating some hard-hitting themes along the way. Ricky and friends’ encounters with various homeless people — some bitter, some angry, some kind, some cruel, some hopeless — brings a distinct realism into the book and hammers home the message that stereotypes are often deceiving. Brouwer always manages to balance this contrast in The Accidental Detectives: a fun, exciting mystery coupled with a real-world issue for middle-grades kids to start thinking about. The series is ultimately a Christian one, always teaching some kind of God-centric message, but Lost Beneath Manhattan hits the question a lot of 12-year-olds probably have: Why does God let bad things happen to so many people? Ricky finally gets some closure on that topic at the end of the book from Brother Phillip, and it’s worth a read just for that.
Lost Beneath Manhattan establishes the formula that Brouwer follows for basically all The Accidental Detectives books: a comedic opening scene that kicks off the main story, the introduction of the mystery and suspects, a series of funny interludes between Ricky and his friends, something serious that raises the stakes, a lengthy pursuit of clues, an exciting final sequence where everything gets wrapped up, and a closing vignette that ties everything together. Brouwer also establishes some of the tropes that show up in nearly every book in the series — Ricky’s habit of fainting, Joel’s inconvenient eccentricities, an elaborate prank that lands the gang in trouble, a fiasco surrounding Joel’s teddy bear, Ricky having romantic tension with Lisa, the gang’s obsession with baseball, Ricky getting kissed by a pretty girl but embarrassed in some other way, etc. Of course, we also have the recurring theme of fairly incompetent grown-ups letting the kids do all the sleuthing — — but some suspension of belief is always required.
It’s hard to put into words what a book can mean to a lonely fourth-grade girl, but all I can say is that my obsession with The Accidental Detectives probably kept me from losing my mind at a time when the whole world was confusing. In reading this series, I had four best friends, exposure to a solid writing style, and abundant inspiration to write my own mystery novels and start my own detective agency (especially interesting since Ricky and his friends are never an actual detective agency; just a group that manages to get in trouble constantly). Lost Beneath Manhattan is a solid entry in the series, and the brotherly relationship between Ricky and Joel speaks volumes for the emotional stakes The Accidental Detectives involves. Sigmund Brouwer, if you ever read this review, please know that if you never reached a single other person in the world, you changed one lonely little girl’s life for the better.
December 28, 2022
I remembered reading these as a kid, so wanted to see if they still hold up. And they kind of do - as unrealistic detective story for kids. Wasn't aware that there was some religious aspect to it, didn't think much of it as a kid I guess, but it is there. Not sure if just this book or through the series.
September 1, 2022
Lost Beneath Manhattan was a decent book. I would give this book 3.3 stars.
November 5, 2022
I love these books for kids and have since I was a kid
ebook-own-toread
January 31, 2023free on amazon
jan 31, 2023
https://amzn.to/3HIsASO
#ad
jan 31, 2023
https://amzn.to/3HIsASO
#ad
May 2, 2023
I found this to be a book that stands the test of time. It did not seem dated, except perhaps calling from payphones. A good, clean read, with a spiritual aspect to it.
January 28, 2024
Funny. Witty. Laugh out loud moments for the kids. Great messages. Mystery was fun!
October 4, 2016
This cracked me up. I read it rather fast, but it was light and I actually didn't want to put it down. So many quirky and interesting characters in this short book. I loved the writing style and story!
It is a Christian book. At first there wasn't any Christianity mentioned, but a little while in there was talk of prayer and a relationship with Christ. I wouldn't agree with a couple things that were mentioned, but it was very brief. One being you shouldn't look on the outward appearance. While I agree with that, I still believe an outward appearance is definitely important to how how one views you! And the time when Ricky thinks he doesn't need to pray to God for help because sometime people have to do things on their own was a little strange.
I loved Joel and the whole deal with the teddy bear...the part at the baseball stadium made me smile :) There is some "romance". Basically thinking a girl is pretty. One time a girl hugs Ricky and twice he is kissed on the cheek. I think it was unnecessary and I would hesitate to give this to my twelve year old brother because of that (as much as I do want him to read this!!).
I thought it just a little weird that the parents would just go along with the kids searching for Joel...I mean, yeah, they were keeping an eye on them but still! They were just a little too calm for their kids running out NY!
Despite all the negatives I mentioned, I still really enjoyed this and have started the other I have. On Goodreads it says this is book 11, but my copy says book 1!
It is a Christian book. At first there wasn't any Christianity mentioned, but a little while in there was talk of prayer and a relationship with Christ. I wouldn't agree with a couple things that were mentioned, but it was very brief. One being you shouldn't look on the outward appearance. While I agree with that, I still believe an outward appearance is definitely important to how how one views you! And the time when Ricky thinks he doesn't need to pray to God for help because sometime people have to do things on their own was a little strange.
I loved Joel and the whole deal with the teddy bear...the part at the baseball stadium made me smile :) There is some "romance". Basically thinking a girl is pretty. One time a girl hugs Ricky and twice he is kissed on the cheek. I think it was unnecessary and I would hesitate to give this to my twelve year old brother because of that (as much as I do want him to read this!!).
I thought it just a little weird that the parents would just go along with the kids searching for Joel...I mean, yeah, they were keeping an eye on them but still! They were just a little too calm for their kids running out NY!
Despite all the negatives I mentioned, I still really enjoyed this and have started the other I have. On Goodreads it says this is book 11, but my copy says book 1!
October 6, 2016
The first book in an awesome kids' series, and one of the first "big kid" books I read. I positively devoured it.
The series is ridiculous, of course; kids run around everywhere without adults, kidnappings galore ensue as a result, and they're led to uncover (and solve) crazy mysteries at every turn. Seriously, you would think that after the kids are kidnapped for like, the sixth time, that the loving parents they seem to have would start keeping them on a bit of a shorter leash. Also, the main character faints at the end of every other chapter. Nevertheless, or possibly BECAUSE of these quirks, the books are tons of fun and fast-paced.
Lost Beneath Manhattan, in particular, was one of my favourites from the series. The pacing and build up of suspense worked a little better in this one than in some of the others, and it featured all four of the "gang".
Brouwer's writing is concise, but not choppy. The spiritual lessons are sometimes a little tacked on, but I don't remember having any particular problems with them. Over the course of the entire series, some things start to get a bit repetitive, but that seems to be a problem for most fairly prolific authors.
The series is ridiculous, of course; kids run around everywhere without adults, kidnappings galore ensue as a result, and they're led to uncover (and solve) crazy mysteries at every turn. Seriously, you would think that after the kids are kidnapped for like, the sixth time, that the loving parents they seem to have would start keeping them on a bit of a shorter leash. Also, the main character faints at the end of every other chapter. Nevertheless, or possibly BECAUSE of these quirks, the books are tons of fun and fast-paced.
Lost Beneath Manhattan, in particular, was one of my favourites from the series. The pacing and build up of suspense worked a little better in this one than in some of the others, and it featured all four of the "gang".
Brouwer's writing is concise, but not choppy. The spiritual lessons are sometimes a little tacked on, but I don't remember having any particular problems with them. Over the course of the entire series, some things start to get a bit repetitive, but that seems to be a problem for most fairly prolific authors.
December 8, 2022
Loved these books as a kid
Wanted to see if it was still an enjoyable romp as an adult. Turns out it is.
My only concern is the dialog around homelessness in NY. It is talked about more than once as being a "choice to give up" and "live off the generosity of others". While there's a small nod to those with mental illness not being at fault for being unable to cope, there are many reasons for homelessness in the US that have nothing to do with choosing to give up on life. It was offered up seemingly as a way to try and get God off the hook for the human suffering the kids see and question, but blaming the homeless for their suffering is not the way to get God off the hook for their suffering. Adam's fall... sin's curse on the world... is why there is suffering in the world. Not individual fault on the part of the sufferer (although it can sometimes be that way).
Other that than, a fun adventure for kids with some good themes such as trusting God, prayer in times of fear and uncertainty, not judging people by their appearance, the value of good friends, etc
Wanted to see if it was still an enjoyable romp as an adult. Turns out it is.
My only concern is the dialog around homelessness in NY. It is talked about more than once as being a "choice to give up" and "live off the generosity of others". While there's a small nod to those with mental illness not being at fault for being unable to cope, there are many reasons for homelessness in the US that have nothing to do with choosing to give up on life. It was offered up seemingly as a way to try and get God off the hook for the human suffering the kids see and question, but blaming the homeless for their suffering is not the way to get God off the hook for their suffering. Adam's fall... sin's curse on the world... is why there is suffering in the world. Not individual fault on the part of the sufferer (although it can sometimes be that way).
Other that than, a fun adventure for kids with some good themes such as trusting God, prayer in times of fear and uncertainty, not judging people by their appearance, the value of good friends, etc
May 1, 2015
So, I've been enjoying the The Accidental Detectives series ever since my childhood. And... here's a confession... I just NOW read book #1. Crazy, right?
Anyways, Lost Beneath Manhattan has a lot of adventure and NYC sight-seeing, but most importantly it has Ricky Kidd searching an unknown city for Joel, his little brother who's gone missing. As the hours tick by, the climax builds more and more. The hunt leads Ricky to places he never thought he'd visit... like creepy underground hideouts. Often Ricky finds himself praying to God during sticky situations. (The Christian morals in this series are the main reason why I like reading books from Sigmund Brouwer.)
Although I do like the series as a whole, I don't feel like I fully enjoyed this one. It just seemed like Joel kept escaping and the plot just looped around again and again. Anyways, I still have to give it 4 solid stars because I cherish the memories I have of reading these great books.
Anyways, Lost Beneath Manhattan has a lot of adventure and NYC sight-seeing, but most importantly it has Ricky Kidd searching an unknown city for Joel, his little brother who's gone missing. As the hours tick by, the climax builds more and more. The hunt leads Ricky to places he never thought he'd visit... like creepy underground hideouts. Often Ricky finds himself praying to God during sticky situations. (The Christian morals in this series are the main reason why I like reading books from Sigmund Brouwer.)
Although I do like the series as a whole, I don't feel like I fully enjoyed this one. It just seemed like Joel kept escaping and the plot just looped around again and again. Anyways, I still have to give it 4 solid stars because I cherish the memories I have of reading these great books.
October 10, 2023
Excellent adventure book for young readers AND adults
I first read Lost Beneath Manhattan back in the early 1990s, when I was in my early 30s. And based on how much I enjoyed the book, I quickly plowed through the rest of the series that were available back then—about 6 books. So I was happy to recently see this book available on Kindle and read it again. Somehow, it was even better than I remembered it.
I won’t get into the details on how Ricky and his friends get lost beneath Manhattan but if you like excellent writing, I think you’ll enjoy it. And by the way, if you’re not into “kid books,” Brouwer also writes excellent adult books. For example, “Double Helix” is a doozy. Full of tension and suspense. I read it in the 90s and was surprised by how suspenseful and thought provoking it was. Bottom line, Sigmund Brouwer is a gifted storyteller. And Lost Beneath Manhattan is a great read.
I first read Lost Beneath Manhattan back in the early 1990s, when I was in my early 30s. And based on how much I enjoyed the book, I quickly plowed through the rest of the series that were available back then—about 6 books. So I was happy to recently see this book available on Kindle and read it again. Somehow, it was even better than I remembered it.
I won’t get into the details on how Ricky and his friends get lost beneath Manhattan but if you like excellent writing, I think you’ll enjoy it. And by the way, if you’re not into “kid books,” Brouwer also writes excellent adult books. For example, “Double Helix” is a doozy. Full of tension and suspense. I read it in the 90s and was surprised by how suspenseful and thought provoking it was. Bottom line, Sigmund Brouwer is a gifted storyteller. And Lost Beneath Manhattan is a great read.
September 30, 2014
I remembered this book from my childhood. I was pretty into the series when it was published in the early 90's (I was in elementary school). When I saw it on the library shelf, I picked it up. In short: the writing is sloppy, the characters are flat, the morals are pretty bad (Kids wander Manhattan alone without help from adults, and Ricky seems to do everything in order to impress a pretty girl), the Christianity is tacked on, and the theology OF the tacked-on Christianity is poor (prayer is good, but you should never pray for yourself so as not to bug God). It should say something about the "wisdom" of the characters that 4/6 got kidnapped before the end of the story. So yeah... not only was this not enjoyable as an adult, but I probably won't let my kids read it either. That's about as bad of a rating as I can give.
Read
January 15, 2009JM4 Br
March 10, 2014
I read this book because the author is coming to our school to speak to our middle school students this week. Good ol' 90s mystery book!
July 28, 2016
Growing up these were my favorite books. I read the whole series!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews