MG Monday: Guest Review: The Adventures of The New Cut Gang by Philip Pullman

Title: The Adventures of the New Cut Gang

Author: Philip Pullman

Publisher: David Fickling Books

Publication Date: 1 Sep 2011

Synopsis from Amazon

Thunderbolt, Benny, Bridie and Sharky Bob are a mixed bunch of vagabonds and urchins who come together to form the New Cut Gang in two comic tales of stolen silver, skulduggery and desperadoes.

Fake coins are turning up all over Lambeth and the finger of suspicion is pointing at Thunderbolt's dad - could he really be the forger? The crime-busting New Cut Gang come to the rescue!

And when just two clues - a blob of wax and a Swedish match - are discovered at the scene of a break-in, the children find themselves on the trail of an extremely cunning criminal.

Set in late Victorian London, these two action-packed thrillers have now been put together in a single volume - with new illustrations throughout from Horrible Histories illustrator, Martin Brown.

This book combines 2 stories in one. The first being that of Thunderbolts Waxwork, the other The Gas Fitters Ball.

The main characters in both books are Sharky Bob, Bridie, Benny, Thunderbolt aka Sam alongside the twins, Angela and Zerlina. The book follows them through the 2 mysteries which they have to solve together as The New Cut Gang. In Thunderbolts Waxwork fake coins are being given out while in The Gas Fitters Ball £10,000 of silver is stolen. The New Cut Gang have to solve these mysteries to restore order to the town.

My favorite part was when the gang were trying to make a wax model because I thought it was a really sweet thing for them to try to do as well as it being funny how they went about trying to make it look real. Benny was my favorite out of all the characters because he was always coming up with crazy plans. He had a wonderful imagination and amazing crime solving skills when combined with the other members of the gang.

Unfortunately I did find some parts of the book a little predictable but I put this down to the age level it is geared for. I would have also changed some of the language used as I think old fashioned words may have been a bit difficult for younger children to understand.

Although I enjoyed this book I did find it on the young side; I would recommend it to younger readers who enjoy crime, mystery novels.