The Worm Tunnel

Finnegan Zwake #2

by Michael Dahl

Thirteen-year-old sleuth Finnegan discovers that digging up the past is not always a good idea when he accompanies his uncle and their friend Jared on an archeological expedition to Aguilar, where they will uncover a rare dinosaur egg and evidence of murder. Original.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens

176 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

About the author

Michael 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.

Reviews

[Karen GoatKeeper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finnegan Zwake, his Uncle Stoppard (a mystery writer) and Jarred (a cop) are headed to Aquilar and an old campsite of Finn's parents to retrieve a Mayan artifact his now missing parents found. There is now a paleontological group looking for dinosaur eggs in the tunnels underground camping on the site. Soon there is a murder inside a locked tent seeming to mirror a murder from Stoppard's novel.
The solution of the murder rests on Finn and his friends. Their freedom depends on it.
The book is a fine cozy mystery. It does play a bit fast and loose with geography and science. At times it seems to be made up on the spot.
Still, the book is a fast, easy read. Although part of a series about Finn, the book stand alone well. There are elements obviously in the series story arc, but they do not disturb the book's plot.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found this in the adult paperback section of a booksale. The cover was really cool, but I’m assuming it’s a middle grade novel based on how it read despite all the murder. It was hard to follow because the “detectives” didn’t really seem to know what was going on and the MC was a bit of a Mary-sue stumbling into the next part of the case without doing any work. The concept/story is cool though, and could have been fun if it was fleshed out a bit more. I’d probably read the next instalment if I ever stumble across it to see how the authors writing progressed after this, or the previous one to see if there was any difference as well.

[Darcy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only got through a few chapters of this book because I found both the story and the characters off-putting. I'm not a big fan of looting countries, and that's essentially what this book is about. "Archeolgoists" going to another country and digging up all their gold and artifacts and bringing them back to the US for profit.

[Sheila Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great mystery for kids and teens - and adults who enjoy a good mystery and a fast read.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of a Young-adult mystery series. It's pretty good. Interesting setting and characters that I liked. Several chapters ended on nice cliffhangers.

[Michelle Cortez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a mystery series featuring a boy, Finnegan Zwake, and his mystery writing Uncle Stoppard. The mysteries combine adventure to exotic locales and of course, danger and murder. This one was not quite as good as others I've read but still a great story.

Background: Finn's parents are archaeologists, who when he was 7 years old went off to Iceland on an exploratory dig and nothing has been heard of them since. Finn was left with Uncle Stoppard in Minnesota. I think that he is about 13 now.

In this story Finn and Uncle Stoppard along with a cop friend, Jared, travel to Agualar, in central America, to excavate a golden crocodile buried by Finn's parents before they left Agualar in front of a hurricane. When they arrive at the old camp site they find a new group of archaeologists there searching for "worm tunnels" (cenotes) containing dinosaur eggs. Then the murders begin....

[cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Worm Tunnel
I read this book and I have really enjoyed it because it combines action and mystery. The main characters are Finnegan Zwake, or as they call him Finn, Jared, and his Uncle Stoppard. They are traveling back to his parents old archeology site where there is a golden crocodile. But along the way they get sucked into a wormhole, and they end up in an other archeology digging site. But as they say in the book, digging two deep can cause trouble, and not to mention murder, or one, or two, or three. But if you like adventure mystery books read this series. I gave this book 4 out of five stars.

[Gurgen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The reason why I picked the book called "The Worm Tunnel" was because it looked interesting and the name sounded fun so I decided to start it. The other reason why I chose it was because the cover looked pretty cool and interesting because it had an egg hatching in a desert with a boy looking confused running away from something. I would not recommend this book to anyone because it was not as interesting and fun as I thought it would be. It was a little too all over the place it started out pretty hard to understand. My friend recommended me this book because he said its geographical and a very amusing book to read.

[Roxann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book I read thinking my students might like it. This was a fun little book. At first I had some trouble getting 'into it' but I kept reading and ending up enjoying the book. It had mystery, murder and lots of action. Add the dinosaurs and digging for gold items-I can see where lots of young people will enjoy the series. I didn't figure out who did the killing until near the end. A well written book.

[Sara M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me by surprise! At first I thought it was going to be like the Syfy movie, in which there are flesh-eating, giant worms that live underground. However, it ended being a murder mystery.

Very refreshing and a wonderful light read for anyone who wants to enjoy a good book for the weekend.

Absolutely loved it and would recommend it.

[Mom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this series because I wanted to read what David read. I continued on in the series. This book was not as good as the first.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun little mystery with quirky literature references and general geekiness.

[TeAndrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I literally fell in love with this book. I hadn't read the first book, but i didn't hsve to. The author has a great way of describing these.

[Johndale]

:)

[Suzanne Dix · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun and very clever. I loved the relationship between uncle and nephew as well as the ability for these two to carry on after the "loss" of Finn's parents. Decent mystery too.

[Daniel Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

It bored me. The characters got to be confusing - sometimes had to go back to figure out who was speaking. Definitely a kid book.

[Azra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, quick and fun read.

[Rick Bavera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read. Entertaining.

Not "great literature" but a definite fun little story.

Take a chance, and go for it.