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finesilkflower's review
1.0
While sick, Abby becomes obsessed with spying on her neighbor, convinced that he is a criminal from an America's Most Wanted-type crime show. Meanwhile, the neighborhood kids spy and steal ideas from each other for a Go Kart race.
Look, I love Rear Window - it was my favorite movie when I was 9 which means it'll be my favorite movie forever and also that I was one weird little kid - and if I'd read this book back then, I probably would have been into the homage. The best scenes in this book are the ones that are stolen directly from the movie, like Abby growing increasingly anxious as she watches through the binoculars while her deputy Kristy breaks into the neighbor's mailbox.
But the rest of the filler is quite weak, including the vague reason our suspect is said to be a criminal (he 'abandoned his family'), and the handwavey description of looking people up on the Internet (did you know there's one definitive site, not a scam, where you can put in a name and get their current address and a photo; no mention of any of the problems with that).
Worst, probably, is
Look, I love Rear Window - it was my favorite movie when I was 9 which means it'll be my favorite movie forever and also that I was one weird little kid - and if I'd read this book back then, I probably would have been into the homage. The best scenes in this book are the ones that are stolen directly from the movie, like Abby growing increasingly anxious as she watches through the binoculars while her deputy Kristy breaks into the neighbor's mailbox.
But the rest of the filler is quite weak, including the vague reason our suspect is said to be a criminal (he 'abandoned his family'), and the handwavey description of looking people up on the Internet (did you know there's one definitive site, not a scam, where you can put in a name and get their current address and a photo; no mention of any of the problems with that).
Worst, probably, is
Spoiler
the fact that Abby turns out to be right. It felt to me like the whole book was setting her up to be wrong, and to be suspecting an innocent man, because literally the basis of her suspicion is superficial similarity in appearance noticed on grainy video while feverish, yet SHE TURNS OUT TO BE RIGHT. Every one of her hunches pans out. It's not only implausible, I feel like it teaches a really bad lesson about how you should definitely invade your neighbors' privacy.sammah's review
2.0
Well clearly somebody was really into watching America's Most Wanted back in the day! I'm just glad the criminal they were looking for was an embezzler and not something even stupider. This was almost too much for me, and I am just SO THANKFUL that I only have one mystery book left. I have a couple of "super mysteries" after this, but still. I'm really close.
Also it's so weird how at the end of the series run Abby became a super health freak. I mean she was always an athlete and all, but out of seemingly nowhere she got really into running home from school like five miles a day? I don't know, it showed up in an earlier book and it weirded me out that it showed up again in this one.
Also it's so weird how at the end of the series run Abby became a super health freak. I mean she was always an athlete and all, but out of seemingly nowhere she got really into running home from school like five miles a day? I don't know, it showed up in an earlier book and it weirded me out that it showed up again in this one.
xtinamorse's review
Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blog/abby-and-the-notorious-neighbor
ssshira's review
2.0
this is my first time reading this book!
in this hitchcock ripoff by ghostwriter [a:Ellen Miles|286072|Ellen Miles|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], abby becomes obsessed with the prospect that her neighbor is an embezzler/family deserter from iowa that she saw on a tv show called mystery trackers (which is basically america’s most wanted). this neighbor, mr. finch, mows his lawn early in the morning every day, which sounds like the kind of thing that should get you reported. abby is sick, so while staying home from school she distracts herself by spying on neighbors with a telescope. she tries to convince her friends in the bsc as well as sgt johnson from the local police that mr. finch is the embezzler/family deserter from mystery trackers, but no one believes her. abby sees that he has kids’ drawings on his fridge, which is weird since he lives alone. kristy finally believes abby enough to snoop in his mailbox and find mail from iowa. then abby sees him burning photos in his sink, and kristy steals them from his trash and sees that they are of the woman who was the wife of the embezzler. finally with all this information sgt johnson believes her and calls the police in des moines. finch starts packing and is about to flee when the cops come in the nick of time, with mystery trackers’ film team behind them, filming the arrest. abby gets the reward money for catching him, which she implies she’s gonna spend on pizza. in a silly subplot, the bsc kids are all competing in a soapbox derby race, and they all keep spying on each other’s teams working on their go carts to get good ideas. nobody wants nicky pike on his team (this is a very nicky plotline) but the triplets eventually let him in because he has cool decals that he will put on the go-cart.
highlights:
-an I love lucy reference! abby flips through reruns while channel surfing
-becca has a tootsie roll pop with an arrow getting shot at a star, so she thinks their go cart will win, because it's good luck. I looked this up and it's apparently a thing.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-abby's seen rear window and references it when talking about what’s going on with her to the bsc. but it's like...if you rip off a story as completely as ellen miles did with this one, then you have to at least pretend you didn't know about it, because otherwise, why did you even write it?
-abby says that sometime before she joined the club kristy came up with the idea for the mystery notebook. not true. they get the mystery notebook in [b:Baby-Sitters Beware|290496|Baby-Sitters Beware (Baby-Sitters Club Super Mystery, #2)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387733882s/290496.jpg|3072158], and abby is already in the bsc in that book
-a couple hilarious instances of 1990s internet: "stacey had heard that you could look up anybody's name on the Internet" and then janine gets online: "with a few taps on the keyboard, a squeal from the modem, and a few more taps, she'd entered the Internet."
-this isn’t really much of a mystery. abby thinks this guy did something, then she finds some evidence, and yes, he did do the thing she thought he did. I think it would be better for the story if the whole thing were a bait and switch, like mr. finch isn’t actually the embezzler, but it turns out he’s doing something even worse, which the cops find out when they go to his house to arrest him, and instead they find his drug smuggling ring. you know? or something like this:
no outfits
jackie disasters:
-almost knocks over a jar of screws but catches it
-kicks a can of paint so it flows onto archie's sneakers
snacks in claudia’s room:
-hershey's kisses (n.s.)
-ring-dings (n.s.)
in this hitchcock ripoff by ghostwriter [a:Ellen Miles|286072|Ellen Miles|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], abby becomes obsessed with the prospect that her neighbor is an embezzler/family deserter from iowa that she saw on a tv show called mystery trackers (which is basically america’s most wanted). this neighbor, mr. finch, mows his lawn early in the morning every day, which sounds like the kind of thing that should get you reported. abby is sick, so while staying home from school she distracts herself by spying on neighbors with a telescope. she tries to convince her friends in the bsc as well as sgt johnson from the local police that mr. finch is the embezzler/family deserter from mystery trackers, but no one believes her. abby sees that he has kids’ drawings on his fridge, which is weird since he lives alone. kristy finally believes abby enough to snoop in his mailbox and find mail from iowa. then abby sees him burning photos in his sink, and kristy steals them from his trash and sees that they are of the woman who was the wife of the embezzler. finally with all this information sgt johnson believes her and calls the police in des moines. finch starts packing and is about to flee when the cops come in the nick of time, with mystery trackers’ film team behind them, filming the arrest. abby gets the reward money for catching him, which she implies she’s gonna spend on pizza. in a silly subplot, the bsc kids are all competing in a soapbox derby race, and they all keep spying on each other’s teams working on their go carts to get good ideas. nobody wants nicky pike on his team (this is a very nicky plotline) but the triplets eventually let him in because he has cool decals that he will put on the go-cart.
highlights:
-an I love lucy reference! abby flips through reruns while channel surfing
-becca has a tootsie roll pop with an arrow getting shot at a star, so she thinks their go cart will win, because it's good luck. I looked this up and it's apparently a thing.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-abby's seen rear window and references it when talking about what’s going on with her to the bsc. but it's like...if you rip off a story as completely as ellen miles did with this one, then you have to at least pretend you didn't know about it, because otherwise, why did you even write it?
-abby says that sometime before she joined the club kristy came up with the idea for the mystery notebook. not true. they get the mystery notebook in [b:Baby-Sitters Beware|290496|Baby-Sitters Beware (Baby-Sitters Club Super Mystery, #2)|Ann M. Martin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387733882s/290496.jpg|3072158], and abby is already in the bsc in that book
-a couple hilarious instances of 1990s internet: "stacey had heard that you could look up anybody's name on the Internet" and then janine gets online: "with a few taps on the keyboard, a squeal from the modem, and a few more taps, she'd entered the Internet."
-this isn’t really much of a mystery. abby thinks this guy did something, then she finds some evidence, and yes, he did do the thing she thought he did. I think it would be better for the story if the whole thing were a bait and switch, like mr. finch isn’t actually the embezzler, but it turns out he’s doing something even worse, which the cops find out when they go to his house to arrest him, and instead they find his drug smuggling ring. you know? or something like this:
no outfits
jackie disasters:
-almost knocks over a jar of screws but catches it
-kicks a can of paint so it flows onto archie's sneakers
snacks in claudia’s room:
-hershey's kisses (n.s.)
-ring-dings (n.s.)
liannakiwi's review
2.0
(LL)
Damn, this is the last BSC book I own/need to read.
With that said:
The premise was simple and plausible enough, but some of the things within the story were too much, especially the ending. It was also a rip off of “Rear Window” by Alfred Hitchcock...no worries they explicitly referenced the movie in the book to say how much it looks like Abby’s situation. (Gotta love a story that admits they are taking ideas from someone else.) It was a basic story to end my marathon of BSC books, so that was disappointing, but it was one of the mysteries so what was I expecting?!
Damn, this is the last BSC book I own/need to read.
With that said:
The premise was simple and plausible enough, but some of the things within the story were too much, especially the ending. It was also a rip off of “Rear Window” by Alfred Hitchcock...no worries they explicitly referenced the movie in the book to say how much it looks like Abby’s situation. (Gotta love a story that admits they are taking ideas from someone else.) It was a basic story to end my marathon of BSC books, so that was disappointing, but it was one of the mysteries so what was I expecting?!
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