A review by anjreading
The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler

3.0

3.5 stars. The Basic Eight, Handler’s debut novel, has been on my Kindle for at least ten years, and I finally got around to reading it! Handler is better known by his pen name Lemony Snicket, under which he writes “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” The Basic Eight is a weird YA noir-ish mystery. I think there are plenty of people for whom this is not the right book, but I enjoyed it in all its dark twistiness (although I did guess one of the major reveals quite a bit in advance). Right from the start, we know that Flannery has murdered someone, as we read her (highly edited – completely unreliable narrator) diary entries. But the journey to discover exactly what happened with her and her group of clever, obnoxious friends is a fun ride.