Product Description

Lewis's hopes for a peaceful summer vacation are shattered as one accident after another plagues him. Is all his bad luck really just a coincidence? Or does it have something to do with the mysterious hooded figure he keeps seeing?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #345470 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 176 pages

Review
For readers who enjoy trying to solve the mystery as they read, there are abundant clues including an anagram. A quick, exciting read. --School Library Journal

Customer Reviews

Perfect for both prior readers of Lewis' adventures and newcomers
Lewis Barnavelt returns in another John Bellairs mystery, Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer penned by Brad Strickland. Here Lewis is sick of adventure and ready for a relaxing, magic-free summer vacation. But trouble still follows him and a string of bad luck may be more sinister than imagined in SIGN OF THE SINISTER SORCERER, telling of Lewis's ongoing struggle with black magic's ills. A fine novel of mystery and magic evolves, perfect for both prior readers of Lewis' adventures and newcomers.

Disappointed
First off, I would like to say I have great respect for Brad Strickland, and for his time and effort into keeping alive great literature that is the Bellairs series of children's books.

I've been a Bellairs series fan since grade school, and collect/own all of the John Dixson/Anthony Monday/Lewis Barnavelt books. I was disappointed in Stricklands latest two releases. Both Sign of Sinister Sorcerer and House Where Nobody Lived lacked the excitement found in previous novels by Bellairs/Strickland. Settings for both books were completely contained within the town of New Zebedee. Part of what made Bellairs novels so great were the exciting and exotic places the main characters traveled, and the descriptive creativity/creepiness Bellairs brought to the reader. Mystical islands, un-earthly worlds, other countries, secluded countrysides, strange places unfamiliar to the main characters. These latest two books seem rushed and untrue to the format that make the Bellairs series so great.

I hope the next installment will return closer to Bellairs originals.

entertaining middle school historical thriller
In the mid 1950s in New Zebedec, Michigan young orphan Lewis Barnavelt lives with his Uncle Jonathan, a wizard who can perform illusions. Recently, Lewis has become interested in information pertaining to the magical Rule of Three that his Uncle claims is an obsolete theory, but next door neighbor the powerful witch (and great cook) Mrs. Zimmerman insists some mages believed in threesomes to embellish exponentially the power.

While watching his friends play baseball, Lewis is distracted by newcomer Hal Everit when his best friend Rose Rita Pottinger warns him to watch out; a foul ball hits him in the face. Just before it struck him, Lewis noticed a hooded robed individual watching him. Although he suffers two black eyes, overall Lewis is okay. A few days later, Jonathan gives him his allowance of five silver dollars, but on his way to the movies with Rose Rita and joined at the theater by Hal, he realizes he lost his money due to a hole in his pocket. The next morning, he smells Mrs. Zimmerman cooking breakfast so he runs down the steps, but trips and injures his leg. Lewis thinks a powerful wizard is trying to harm him; as he believes he suffered an attack based on the Rule of Three. Jonathan thinks otherwise and besides the trio of assaults already occurred; but he soon revises his opinion based on a message in a mirror; he believes he and his nephew are under magical siege and he thinks he knows who the culprit is.

This is an entertaining middle school historical thriller with some fantasy and suspense elements enhancing the tale. Young readers will enjoy Lewis' summer vacation as he begins to believe THE SIGN OF THE SINISTER SORCERER has him under siege.

Harriet Klausner