The Hostile Hospital (A Series of Unfortunate Events #8)

Reader reviewed by Flak Monkey

The eighth entry in the outstanding "Unfortunate Events" series is a notch below the others. The plot is good and moves along quickly. The orphans find themselves in the middle of nowhere after the hot air balloon that they used to escape From Count Olaf is deflated. They also find themselves wanted by authorities for the murder of Jacques Snicket. They spend the remainder of the book trying to allude the authorities and solve the ongoing mystery of Jacques Snicket and VFD. The descriptions of the half-finished hospital where they volunteer and the over-stuffed general store are the type of classic creativity we expect from this series. Unfortunately, the orphans are on their own this time and are not sent to live with a guardian, which detracted from the book for me. Fortunately, Lemony Snicket has promised that there will be 13 books in this series and I am eagerly awaiting #9.