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Nov 23, 2018IndyPL_SteveB rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Long but exciting children’s novel by the popular author of *The Mysterious Benedict Society* and its sequels. 12-year-old Reuben Pedley lives in an odd city run by a mysterious villain known as “The Smoke”, his front man, “the Counselor”, and his henchmen, “The Directions,” who run a protection racket against the merchants in town. Reuben’s father is deceased and Reuben lives with his mother who works two jobs. In the summer Reuben is left to his own devices, so he learns resourcefulness as he explores his part of the city. One day he finds a mysterious antique watch hidden in a hard-to-see place. He thinks that selling this might be a key to helping his mother get out of poverty. Eventually he discovers that The Smoke has been looking for this watch for years and will stop at nothing to get it. After some careful and patient fiddling with the watch, Reuben discovers that it has the power of making the watch holder *invisible* for 15 minutes at a time. It also makes the watch holder effectively *blind* for that time; but a smart person can learn to cope with that. The book is 500 pages long, which is pretty long for most for 12-year olds. There is a bit of a slow spot in the middle of the story but then the second half is full speed ahead. It’s a clever book with many surprises and Reuben is a fully developed character, with believable skills and failings.