The Secret of the Saucer

Hobtown Mystery Stories #3

by Kris Bertin, Alexander Forbes (Artist), Jason Fischer-Kouhi (Colorist)

Return to Hobtown, the charming rural village in Nova Scotia at the heart of surreal and haunting mysteries, and home to the after-school Teen Detective Club dedicated to solving them. The third must-read volume of the page-turning series that the New York Times calls “forceful and haunting” starts here for the first time ever in a fully colored edition from creators Kris Bertin and Alexander Forbes!

The lines between conspiracy and reality tangle during election season in Hobtown as a new-old member of the Teen Detective Club surfaces to challenge Dana’s leadership and redirect the group’s attention back to the discounted but pressing concern that “ALIENS!” are among us. On a grander scale, amid the town’s hotly contested mayoral race, the arrival of a flying saucer and a chaotic “Ape Lord” being pursued by the local Knitting Circle have the teen sleuths of Hobtown unsure if they’re coming or going, as literal backward thinking tears at the threads of their friendships and their grasp on their latest case . . .

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Mystery, Graphic Novels Comics, Thriller

264 pages, Paperback

Published November 25, 2025

About the author

Kris Bertin is a writer of from Halifax, NS. His first book of short stories, BAD THINGS HAPPEN, won the Writers' Union of Canada's 2017 Danuta Gleed Award and the ReLit Award for short fiction. Kris's graphic novel (illustrated by Alexander Forbes) THE CASE OF THE MISSING MEN, published in 2017 by Conundrum Press, was nominated for a Doug Wright Award.

Reviews

[Alin]

Placeholder 4⭐️—I think I need to read this two more times and also backwards before I figure out if I liked it.

[Opal E]

Another brilliant Hobtown mystery! Hold on to your hats with that one, 'cause they went Memento on us.
Of course, it all makes sense, but you better be awake when you read.

I'll admit the first thing I wanted to do when I finished was go through it all over again to get all the little details I missed the first time round. I would recommend the printed version. I read a digital copy, and it's good, but with this kind of alternative story-telling structure it's just nicer to be able to go back and forth the way you want.

Again, I love that world, and it was interesting to see our characters grow and their relationships become more complex. Their friendships are really dear to me, so I hope the authors don't choose to pluck the cords too hard.
A lot is still very much left to unpack in this creepy little town, but it's getting clearer... as clear and easy to understand as ghost cheese.
You like X-files? The dark as much as the weird goofy episodes? Well then, just treat yourself, grab the first volume of Hobtown Mystery.

[EgoAmi]

A fantastic entry in the series! Perhaps the best yet.

Telling the story in reverse is attention grabbing and effective. The structure justifies itself by simulating the effects of alien contact the residents of Hobtown experience onto the reader - scrambling our sequencing and making us really feel the "missing time." While definitely confusing, it works brilliantly and (for those who pay attention) much seen darkly becomes clear by the end.

But that's not all! The dynamics of the detective club are upset and subverted as the core members grow up and apart, falling out over the impact of past mysteries and their own raging hormones (Dana's weight gain is a lovely touch). Tensions and crushes within the club are handled adeptly, and Bertin complicates things by introducing new members of the club, each with motives of their own.

Hobtown is the Big Other in the series and does not disappoint here. In fact I feel as if I'm beginning to know my way around the place, from the Alphabet forest on Onion mountain to Ten Tamaracks trailer park (a helpful map is included in the back matter). And the townsfolk of Hob are eerie and amusing and more violent than ever! Yet somehow more compassionate and human than ever before too.

The mystery itself involves various clubs and factions vying for control over the town, using cryptids and UFOs as cover for deeper astral currents influencing the conditioned populace. As one "visitation" survivor in Hobtown says, "Our world is an experiment, closed off from God."

Maybe so, but in this readers opinion, God has an uncanny way of sneaking into experiments to reveal something of himself. ****

[Matt Clark]

This was one of my more anticipated reads of the year and Bertin and Forbes largely delivered on another bizarre mystery/conspiracy/adventure in Hobtown. The inverted timeline does make for a more challenging read - even after reviewing it in reverse I still found it a bit perplexing. Instead of full throttle page turning because you can't wait to find out what happens next, you need to soldier through in the hopes that things will start to coalesce. So, I'm rating it a star lower than the other two volumes. However, I plan on re-reading those and following up again with this and I think my impression of it will improve with time. Still absolutely sold on Hobtown and will continue recommending these!

[Evelyn]

Aw man, the format really got me on this one.

For context: at the beginning of the book, the first panel says "The idiots printed this book backwards!" I check, and low and behold, the book is technically printed backwards, though each chapter is told in the correct order, you go to the back of the book for the first chapters, and work your way backwards to the end. I honeslty think if they had printed this right to left like they do for manga, I would have had an easier time reading it, but im conflicted because I like the format change for storytelling reasons, as a our main characters get sacked up into a UFO at one point, and their words get all jumbled. I dunno, reader beware, format makes this one just a smidge difficult at times.

but other then that, this is a really solid volume of Hobtown! it definitely feels like set up for the future volumes, but it also has its own bizarre little story to tell, and I really enjoyed it!

[Haruka]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a chance to read this book in advanced. And here my honest review.
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I have read the other 2 of this series but somehow there some questions at the start of the story. This book was okay for me. I love the series and i like that there some relationship going on in the book. The storyline tho the way it was written at first confuses me. I thought i was reading wrongly but then it took a while for me to understand the story. Even with confusion, I still can't wait for the series upcoming books! I just love to learn more of the mystery hobtown!!

[Vintagebooklvr]

Mayhem, paranormal activity and conspiracies thrive in Hobtown as the town's elections loom. Not only is it a hotly contested race, a flying saucer arrives and an "Ape Lord" is being pursued by the local knitting circle. But the hardest thing for the Teen Detective Club maybe the divisions in the group as someone challenges Dana's leadership and threatens everything they work for...

This was an interesting experience because the story is told backwards. Great illustrations and quirky story.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest opinion.

[Emma-Catherine]

This was a really cool way to tell the story. So cool to work backwards, and in some ways experience the story the way Pauline was. Also the disjointed chapters captured the way everyone's brain got scrambled by the UFO. And then so neat to get to put everything back and order and read it again the other way! I was initially skeptical, and I found I really had to pay attention as I read to be able to follow what was happening backwards, but by the end of it I was really excited about the way the story had been presented.

[Dair]

This was an interesting read. I think I actually give it slightly higher than a four, because the story is really interesting. The story is written backwards and to enjoy it I really had to read it backwards and then forwards. Not sure if it was better the way it was set up, or if I would’ve enjoyed it more with a traditional structure. An interesting experiment and as always, the art and storytelling was very strong. I hope there is a fourth book at some point.

[Ryan]

Previous books in the series felt like they could come close to being a YA story. Book one felt like Nancy Drew and Book two was almost Harry Potter. This book tries for something different. There is some absurdity and strange dreams. One chapter has a mean racist grandpa and another has townsfolk killing each other.

The backwards chapters make it hard to follow. But I like the series enough to read it backwards to see if I can make better sense of the plot threads.

[doowopapocalypse]

ARC from Netgalley.

This is late night marathons of Beyond Belief (specifically when hosted by Jonathan Frakes) fueled by pizza rolls and no name orange soda. This is if David Lynch tried to adapt Alfred Hitchock's Three Investigators. There's no time to wonder why no one noticed the artillery piece under that tarp, there are things watching from the woods.

[Chad]

The story wasn't bad and I liked the weirdness of this smalltown where the detective club in town investigates these oddball cases. Being told Memento style really made it difficult to keep track of the plot though. Each chapter went a little further back in time and it was really hard to keep abreast of what was happening. I grew to hate it with each new chapter.

[Luke Michaels]

Consistent series. Looks great, well written. I thought there were some cool moments in telling the story in reverse, but sometimes it had me confused. The story was strong, I liked the UFO theme. I always feel like these books fall a little short of their potential. Another very good and slightly flawed entry in the series.

[Sarah]

I’d like to thank edelweiss and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I will say I struggled to get into this one and didn’t enjoy it as much as the first two. Overall still a decent read and looking forward to volume 4.

[Manu]

I was not a fan of the memento style presentation, after spending couple of chapters from front to back I stopped and restarted from the back. I like the art style and the characters, but it is getting a bit repetitive and it seems like everyone is in one or more secret society.

[Amy Huske]

i literally worship these books and have been waiting for this one with a frothing mouth but the backwards format constantly took me out of the freaking wonder of it. and i hate it when the gang isn’t getting along!!

[Nick Van]

A solid work and good outing for the gang. Enjoyable once one has gotten used to the narrative structure and things started coming together. Perhaps the best in the series, certainly the most complex.

[The Smoog]

I understand that people want to experiment with alternative storytelling, but this is a rambling pile of complete garbage. I made it to 75% and gave up. I’d thought that the series was improving with the last book, but the writers flushed it all down the toilet here, I won’t be reading any more.

[Paul W.]

That was a ride! I understand wanting to be distinctive and different but this was an Alan Moore - esque level of confusing storytelling for the sake of a story. I enjoyed it but I don't think the conceit added anything to the story except maybe irritation.

[Elliot Hanowski]

Wonderful - Hobtown has lost none of its mystery or madness or (thank goodness) humor. I devoured it in a few hours and intend to read it again to better understand all the intricate moving parts.

[Gabrielle]

No one is more disappointed than I that this installment didn't work for me. I love this series so much, but I had a really hard time following this one, even upon reading it backwards as suggested

[Inès Montel]

Reread is necessary for this one and I’ll have to do it backwards

[Alan Pedersen]

The new characters feel fairly one dimensional and the backwards/forwards seems like a gimmick more than anything.
It’s still enjoyable but not nearly as good as the first or second

[Bryan]

If David Lynch had made a Nancy Drew movie with the structure of Memento, it would go a lot like this. Read it twice: one straight through, and then each chapter from back to front.

[Balazs Kerekes]

Quite anticlimactic and bland compared to the 1st one, sadly. Not a lot of big mysteries going on either.

[Keisha]

In case you're wondering: No, reading it from Chapter One (back to front) doesn't help. It funnily makes more sense to be read the way it intended, from the end of the story to the beggining.

Narratively messy. The characters we've grown to love from Volume One loses all of their personalities and charms in this volume, which depends entirely on readers being confused with the format and curiosity on how it all starts.

[Berslon Pank]

The format felt more like a gimmick than necessary. I don't think I got more understanding or enjoyment out of it being backwards so it was a distraction.

Still love a Hobtown mystery!

I read it backwards so that the chapters were in the usual order and I think it's better that way.

[Audrey]

I absolutely devoured all 3 volumes of these fantasy-horror comics about mystery-solving teens in 90s Nova Scotia. This volume is "Hobtown's Teen Detective Club does Memento." It's less gimmicky than it sounds, with a real plot purpose for the back-to-front story, and you'll want to read it at least once (maybe twice) in each direction! In general, this is a truly excellent series that should get tons more hype. But take care—these books might be about teens, but it's not Scooby Doo, and occasionally they put the "graphic" in graphic novel.