This is the third book in a series so it was difficult to get into the story to start with, once I got past that, my main focus was the very poor writing. This book needs a serious check by a professional editor and some major rewriting - the text was clunky and hard going - not good for a children's book.
The story had no flow to it and the conversations between characters were stilted. For some reason, the adults talk to each other the same way the children do and they talk very casually about a fire where a number of children died - these dead children haunt the school where their friend is now head teacher.
There is a naval officer who has somehow stolen a naval vessel and given it to some criminals who are repeatedly called the 'bad guys' (even in some 'newspaper articles' at the end of the book)even though they kidnap children in their hunt for some school trophies and appear ready to commit any crime to get them. There is no character development and people have sudden changes of heart with no real cause.
The end of the book does not feel like an ending - it felt a lot more like an unsubtle build-up to a fourth book in the series.
My main issue with this book is that none of the characters seem to care what is happening or what could happen, it's hard to describe but an example section of the story will demonstrate this. A group of people (mostly children) are tied up in a shack in the woods and the main 'bad guy' is having a change of heart:
"I just wanted to finish my brother's work. I didn't want all this to happen, and now I have no idea what I can do to make it right." "You can start by untying us." Samantha was only having a laugh, and she was surprised when the old man did what she suggested.
The idea that a child would be joking whilst in a kidnap situation, makes no sense at all to me and much of the book felt like this.
There are lots of classic children's adventure books available that I would recommend instead of this, such as Enid Blyton's Famous Five.
I received a free copy of this book.