The Penultimate Peril (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 12) - Hardcover

Lemony Snicket

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0064410153 ISBN 13: 9780064410151

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2005

Synopsis

NOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES

Lemony Snicket returns with the last book before the last book of his bestselling A Series of Unfortunate Events. Scream and run away before the secrets of the series are revealed!

Very little is known about Lemony Snicket and A Series of Unfortunate Events. What we do know is contained in the following brief list:

• The books have inexplicably sold millions and millions of copies worldwide
• People in more than 40 countries are consumed by consuming Snicket
• The movie was as sad as the books, if not more so
• Like unrefrigerated butter and fungus, the popularity of these books keeps spreading

Even less is known about book the twelfth in this alarming phenomenon. What we do know is contained in the following brief list:

• In this book, things only get worse
• Count Olaf is still evil
• The Baudelaire orphans do not win a contest
• The title begins with the word ‘The’

Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

About this title

Review:

10 Second Interview: A Few Words with Daniel Handler

Q: Your Wikipedia (online encyclopedia) entry defines you as author, screenwriter, and accordionist. Is that how you would describe yourself?
A: I find that nothing makes people back away faster at a social gathering than "accordionist." Except perhaps "screenwriter." And, even "author" always makes people nervous, so I usually say "writer."

Q: How long have you been writing?
A: All my life really, since I was able to write all I wanted to do was write. I think largely I ended up becoming a writer because I could think of nothing else that I was good at--at all. As a kid, I always wanted to be a writer, and I had no backup plan whatsoever as an adult.

Q: Are the Baudelaire children ever going to be happy?
A: Well, they are happy on a regular basis, just not for very long. Um, are they ever going to be happy permanently? I don't know any permanently happy people, thank goodness.

Q: Okay, then is the series going to end on a happy note?
A: Well, I always remind readers of the Snicket books that happy is a comparative term, so the end will be happier than some people would think, but less happy than others.

Q: When can fans expect the final book?
A: I believe the thirteenth volume will be released in the fall of 2006, although something terrible could happen to the author at any moment and then the books would not be released at all.

Looking for more from Daniel Handler? Check out his answers to Amazon.com's The Significant Seven.
An Interview with Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket has captured the hearts of childen and adults alike with the hilariously gloomy series that began, of course, with The Bad Beginning. Amazon.com had a chance to question the author of this marvelously morbid and delightfully depressing series, and the communication was grim indeed. Read the cumbersome communique and see for yourself.

From the Inside Flap:

Dear Reader,
If this is the first book you found while searching for a book to read next, then the first thing you should know is that this next-to-last book is what you should put down first. Sadly, this book presents the penultimate chronicle of the lives of the Baudelaire orphans, and the first thing you should know about this next-to-last book is that it is next-to-first in its supply of misery, despair, and unpleasantness.

Probably the next-to-last things you would like to read about are the first things you would encounter in this next-to-last book, including a harpoon gun, a rooftop sunbathing salon, two mysterious initials, three unidentified triplets, a notorious villain, an unsavory curry, and several people you might find distressingly familiar and familiarly distressing.

Next-to-last things are the first thing to be avoided, and so allow me to recommend that you put this next-to-last book down first, and find something else to read next at last, such as the next-to-last book in another chronicle, or a chronicle containing other next-to-last things, so that this next-to-last book does not become the next-to-last book you will read.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0064410153
• ISBN 13: 9780064410151
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368
• Illustrator: Brett Helquist