I've read Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books. Like Rick Riordan and Suzanne Collins, Colfer can write quick-paced action and snappy-dialogue. His AF books are fun, though a little dark. They feature a highly intelligent kid who interacts with fairies and trolls and other fantastical creatures. When I checked out the Listening Library version of his Half-Moon Investigations, I expected more of the same. It wasn't just that the CD case cover image suggested another hip take on classic fantasy, but the title itself made me assume this one was a werewolf story, or perhaps yet another take on vampiric teens.
I was wrong, I was wrong. Colfer uses the same hard-boiled detective tone that is the hallmark of his AF books, but this time, it is coming from the first-person perspective of Fletcher Moon, a junior high private investigator in his Irish hometown. For the first few chapters, I waited anxiously for the supernatural to sneak in, but once I realized that this was a cut and dry mystery, I began to really enjoy the narrator's gritty take on principals and bullies and girls. The plot falls apart a little in the end, but Fletcher and the Sharkeys (a local family known for being on the wrong side of the law) are so well-developed that I didn't mind. The recording features Sean Patrick Reilly's Irish brogue, which made the story even more enjoyable.
On a side note, I'm curious about both the webcomic and the BBC live-action version of this one. The actor playing Red Sharkey (the taller of the two boys) is a dead-ringer for my brother-in-law Brian....
