Book summary

With mysteries violently swirling around the Baudelaire orphans like smoke rising from the burning Hotel Denouement, the trio find themselves most unfortunately involved in a situation of dire proportions involving deadly mushrooms, work sheep, spiceless ceviche, and the dark past of the V.F.D. Washed up on a coastal shelf with their arch enemy, Count Olaf, the children find themselves taken in by kind islanders ruled over by a devious man name Ishmael who forces everyone to drink coconut cordial, dress like cult members, and scavenge the detritus that arrives with each storm. Will the identity of Lemony Snicket ever be discovered? Exactly who is the very mysterious Beatrice? Will the hapless but ever hopeful Baudelaire orphans ever get a break? Will Count Olaf finally be stopped? And where on earth is the sugar bowl? A 2006 New York Times Notable Book.

Media reviews

"Where, in the end--and in the THE END--does the 'Unfortunate Events' series leave us? It leaves us reminded of what an interesting and offbeat educator Handler is. In between all the exotic ethnic food references and the gallows humor and the teaching of words like 'denouement' and 'vaporetto,' the books seem at times like a covert mission to turn their readers into slightly dark-hued sophisticates."