What do you think?
Rate this book
Accidental Detectives #15
Shroud of the Lion
As they set out to be extras in a Hollywood movie, Ricky and his friends face danger and difficult faith questions.
144 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2003
28 people want to read
About the author
Sigmund Brouwer
256 books408 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 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 25, 2024
The final adventure in the absolutely stellar, personally life-changing The Accidental Detectives series, Shroud of the Lion is kind of subpar fare, but I can easily forgive it because I certainly read it dozens of times as a kid and overlooked the general silliness and lack of emotional stakes. And this is my last Accidental Detectives review, so I can’t bring myself to be too hard on it.
After filming a startling anti-drug campaign video in their backyards, Ricky Kidd and his friends are invited to visit a movie set in Hollywood by Jericho Stone, a world-famous action star who, as Eldon Eldridge, was the former college roommate of Lisa Higgins’ older brother Jonathan. What starts as a fun summer vacation quickly spirals into chaos as Ricky and his friends are kidnapped as soon as they leave the airport, only to be told that their abduction was a simple mix-up. To make matters worse, Ricky soon deduces that Jericho is being blackmailed for one million dollars by criminals who know about his secret ties to an Islamic extremist group, which puts Ricky and his friends in even more danger as pawns in the hands of people who will stop at nothing to finish their blackmailing scheme.
After a series of absolutely outstanding stories, Sigmund Brouwer kind of phones in Shroud of the Lion, featuring a series of overly-convenient coincidences to drive the far-fetched, disjointed plot. First, we are asked to believe that a world-famous movie star invites a group of 12-year-olds that he has never met to visit him on the set of his new movie, also titled Shroud of the Lion, simply because he thought their homemade anti-drug video was really good. We never have any real emotional stakes in the story, either — we have no reason to care about Jericho since the kids are just meeting him, and we never get the feeling that Ricky and his friends are in any real trouble.
Even Ricky and his friends seem a little out of character at times. After a very memorable (and incredibly gross) opening vignette as they film their anti-drug video, they mostly just go through the motions of snooping around and getting into trouble with the bad guys. There isn’t much originality here except for the Hollywood movie setting, which is woefully underused. The occasional funny interlude lightens the plot a little, but we still don’t get pulled into the story the way we do most Accidental Detectives novels. Ricky and Mike play the biggest roles as usual, with Ralphy and Lisa appearing for their few moments of fame and Joel, once again and very sadly, hardly appearing or even being mentioned. I have to wonder why Brouwer chose to sideline Joel in the revised series; Joel was one of the sweethearts of the earlier books.
We get some Christian messages here and there, mostly about the corrupting influence of greed (as we’ve seen in the last two books) and the importance of being content with what you have. However, the dialogue in these scenes is painfully contrived, and Jericho never comes off as the good-hearted, brotherly hero that he is supposed to be — he’s certainly no Brother Phillip DuBerg or Mr. Vanderhoek. There are some funny plot points in hindsight, with some of the most modern technologies of the day (wireless networks, basic video editing software, handheld tracking devices) being hailed as earth-shattering technological developments. I must say, though, that I appreciated Brouwer’s approach to the topic of Islamic extremist groups. He goes out of his way to point out that most Muslims do not hold violent terrorist beliefs, and that extremist groups should be considered by Christians as another version of neo-Nazis and racist organizations. It would have been very easy for Brouwer to encourage his young readers to view Muslims as scary, psychotic maniacs, but he shows respect for the people without tolerating their views on God or excusing any terrorist sympathies.
There isn’t much else to say about Shroud of the Lion: it’s a simple story that is quite unbelievable and unmoving, but it still fares better than many middle-grades mysteries simply because Brouwer is, at heart, a good writer. Shroud of the Lion doesn’t represent the series as a whole. I can vouch for that because I survived my middle school years thanks to being able to escape into the world of The Accidental Detectives and there experience adventures, learn about the world, and have the best friends a kid could ask for. Sigmund Brouwer, if you ever read this review, I hope you know that your books changed my life, and your writing has served as my model for the last fifteen years. Thank you.
And now, just for fun, a quick ranking of the series according to personal favorites!
1. The Disappearing Jewel of Madagascar
2. Race for the Park Street Treasure
3. Madness at Moonshiner’s Bay
4. Lost Beneath Manhattan
5. Phantom Outlaw at Wolf Creek
6. The Missing Map of Pirate’s Haven
7. Short Cuts
8. Terror on Kamikaze Run
9. Creature of the Mists
10. The Mystery Tribe of Camp Blackeagle
11. Tyrant of the Badlands
12. The Volcano of Doom
13. Legend of the Gilded Saber
14. The Downtown Desperadoes
15. Sunrise at the Mayan Temple
16. Shroud of the Lion
After filming a startling anti-drug campaign video in their backyards, Ricky Kidd and his friends are invited to visit a movie set in Hollywood by Jericho Stone, a world-famous action star who, as Eldon Eldridge, was the former college roommate of Lisa Higgins’ older brother Jonathan. What starts as a fun summer vacation quickly spirals into chaos as Ricky and his friends are kidnapped as soon as they leave the airport, only to be told that their abduction was a simple mix-up. To make matters worse, Ricky soon deduces that Jericho is being blackmailed for one million dollars by criminals who know about his secret ties to an Islamic extremist group, which puts Ricky and his friends in even more danger as pawns in the hands of people who will stop at nothing to finish their blackmailing scheme.
After a series of absolutely outstanding stories, Sigmund Brouwer kind of phones in Shroud of the Lion, featuring a series of overly-convenient coincidences to drive the far-fetched, disjointed plot. First, we are asked to believe that a world-famous movie star invites a group of 12-year-olds that he has never met to visit him on the set of his new movie, also titled Shroud of the Lion, simply because he thought their homemade anti-drug video was really good. We never have any real emotional stakes in the story, either — we have no reason to care about Jericho since the kids are just meeting him, and we never get the feeling that Ricky and his friends are in any real trouble.
Even Ricky and his friends seem a little out of character at times. After a very memorable (and incredibly gross) opening vignette as they film their anti-drug video, they mostly just go through the motions of snooping around and getting into trouble with the bad guys. There isn’t much originality here except for the Hollywood movie setting, which is woefully underused. The occasional funny interlude lightens the plot a little, but we still don’t get pulled into the story the way we do most Accidental Detectives novels. Ricky and Mike play the biggest roles as usual, with Ralphy and Lisa appearing for their few moments of fame and Joel, once again and very sadly, hardly appearing or even being mentioned. I have to wonder why Brouwer chose to sideline Joel in the revised series; Joel was one of the sweethearts of the earlier books.
We get some Christian messages here and there, mostly about the corrupting influence of greed (as we’ve seen in the last two books) and the importance of being content with what you have. However, the dialogue in these scenes is painfully contrived, and Jericho never comes off as the good-hearted, brotherly hero that he is supposed to be — he’s certainly no Brother Phillip DuBerg or Mr. Vanderhoek. There are some funny plot points in hindsight, with some of the most modern technologies of the day (wireless networks, basic video editing software, handheld tracking devices) being hailed as earth-shattering technological developments. I must say, though, that I appreciated Brouwer’s approach to the topic of Islamic extremist groups. He goes out of his way to point out that most Muslims do not hold violent terrorist beliefs, and that extremist groups should be considered by Christians as another version of neo-Nazis and racist organizations. It would have been very easy for Brouwer to encourage his young readers to view Muslims as scary, psychotic maniacs, but he shows respect for the people without tolerating their views on God or excusing any terrorist sympathies.
There isn’t much else to say about Shroud of the Lion: it’s a simple story that is quite unbelievable and unmoving, but it still fares better than many middle-grades mysteries simply because Brouwer is, at heart, a good writer. Shroud of the Lion doesn’t represent the series as a whole. I can vouch for that because I survived my middle school years thanks to being able to escape into the world of The Accidental Detectives and there experience adventures, learn about the world, and have the best friends a kid could ask for. Sigmund Brouwer, if you ever read this review, I hope you know that your books changed my life, and your writing has served as my model for the last fifteen years. Thank you.
And now, just for fun, a quick ranking of the series according to personal favorites!
1. The Disappearing Jewel of Madagascar
2. Race for the Park Street Treasure
3. Madness at Moonshiner’s Bay
4. Lost Beneath Manhattan
5. Phantom Outlaw at Wolf Creek
6. The Missing Map of Pirate’s Haven
7. Short Cuts
8. Terror on Kamikaze Run
9. Creature of the Mists
10. The Mystery Tribe of Camp Blackeagle
11. Tyrant of the Badlands
12. The Volcano of Doom
13. Legend of the Gilded Saber
14. The Downtown Desperadoes
15. Sunrise at the Mayan Temple
16. Shroud of the Lion
March 30, 2023
Reviewed for local school library. Fun read for adventure loving kiddos! No language issues. Some graphic/gory scenes, but they turn out to be staged.
July 21, 2013
My rating is really 4.5.
I'd guess that the only reason I've rated this Accidental Detectives book 4.5 stars was the grossness factor. The opening chapter describes Mike accidentally smashing Ricky's hand to pieces with a sledge hammer that has a 20-pound head, and then Ralphy puking. I seriously thought that Ricky had lost his hand! Then in the next chapter, it's explained that it was a setup for an anti-drug commercial. Even the barfing. Those boys....
Then the last chapter was gross, too. Mike and Ricky made the nastiest sandwiches for one another using no more than five ingrediants, not including the bread (the sandwich that Mike made for Ricky had canned cat food in it! Ewww!). That was for an anti-drug commercial, also. But, for that one, after they filmed it, they actually tried to eat the sandwiches (if you can call them sandwiches!), saying whoever got through theirs first would have the other mowing their lawn for a certain time span. Suffice it to say, neither finished.
Other than that, the rest of the story was great and had a great mystery. Though it seemed a little fast compared to the other books in the series...but maybe that's because I read it in a couple of hours.
So yeah. 4.5.
I'd guess that the only reason I've rated this Accidental Detectives book 4.5 stars was the grossness factor. The opening chapter describes Mike accidentally smashing Ricky's hand to pieces with a sledge hammer that has a 20-pound head, and then Ralphy puking. I seriously thought that Ricky had lost his hand! Then in the next chapter, it's explained that it was a setup for an anti-drug commercial. Even the barfing. Those boys....
Then the last chapter was gross, too. Mike and Ricky made the nastiest sandwiches for one another using no more than five ingrediants, not including the bread (the sandwich that Mike made for Ricky had canned cat food in it! Ewww!). That was for an anti-drug commercial, also. But, for that one, after they filmed it, they actually tried to eat the sandwiches (if you can call them sandwiches!), saying whoever got through theirs first would have the other mowing their lawn for a certain time span. Suffice it to say, neither finished.
Other than that, the rest of the story was great and had a great mystery. Though it seemed a little fast compared to the other books in the series...but maybe that's because I read it in a couple of hours.
So yeah. 4.5.
March 13, 2014
Ricky and his friends are excited to be extras in the new Jericho Stone movie, that is until they arrive in LA and are immediately kidnapped. So why does Jericho say it was a mistake? And why are the kidnappers hanging around the set? Another wild ride with great characters that will keep readers of all ages turning pages.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
March 5, 2015
this was an cool book. it was gross too.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews