Rendezvous in Russia by Lauren St John

Rendezvous in Russia by Lauren St John
Buy Rendezvous in Russia by Lauren St John at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Confident Readers
Reviewer: Robert James
Summary: One of the best series around for younger readers keeps getting better. Highly recommended as a very cleverly plotted adventure.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 192	Date: August 2013
Publisher: Orion Children's Books
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-1444000238
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When Skye, Laura Marlin's three-legged Siberian husky, saves an actress's life, Laura and her friend Tariq get the chance to work on a film set in Russia. Heading to St Petersburg initially seems to be the chance of a holiday of a lifetime - but as 'accidents' start piling up, Laura and Tariq realise that they could be in yet another dangerous situation. Can they save the day again?

I'm really enjoying this series, and if anything, it's getting better with each new book. Laura and Tariq's friendship is very well portrayed, and the pair make a good team. Laura herself - brave, clever and headstrong - is a wonderful heroine, while the calmer, quieter Tariq, with his affinity for animals, works well as a supporting character. In addition, I think the relationship between Laura and her uncle, Calvin Redfern, who's now her guardian after being separated from her for many years, is touching and well-written.

Despite normally being pretty good at guessing the villains in this type of book, I'm now zero for four in the Laura Marlin series! St John seems to have a real gift for making the culprits hard to identify, although looking back, she definitely 'plays fair' with the reader. There's enough hints to make it possible for someone very intelligent (more so than me!) to have a good chance of working it out, I'd say. In addition, David Dean's sketches at the start of each chapter to a great job of helping to set the scene.

My only slight criticism is that the ending seems a bit rushed, if anything. However, that's the only thing stopping this from being a five-star read.

Overall, this is another very strong entry in one of the most enjoyable series out there for tweens and younger teens. Highly recommended.

As well as the other three Laura Marlin mysteries, starting with Dead Man's Cove, here at The Bookbag we really like Elen Caldecott, author of How Ali Ferguson Saved Houdini.

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