The Spiderwick Chronicles, by Tony Di Terlizzi & Holly Black

(hb; 2003, 2004)

Overall review:

This five-book kids’ series is lightweight, and probably won’t be remembered as a landmark work, but it is fun and straightforward. It’s a quick read, as each book is approximately a hundred pages long, packaged like Lemony Snicket’s An Unfortunate Series of Events series.


Review, book by book:

The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 1: The Field Guide – Nine year-old twins Simon and Jared Grace, and their thirteen year-old sister (Mallory) move into their institutionalized aunt’s abandoned house with their mother. When things start missing, and malicious pranks are pulled, the children (who have nothing to do with these events) realize that someone – or something – else is also living in the house.

The story is brisk, the characters deftly-fleshed (Simon loves animals; Mallory is a fencer; Jared is plucky), and the fun never lets up. 


The Seeing Stone (Book 2): When their cat goes missing, the Grace children search for it in the backwoods, and encounter more nasty magical beings. The suspense and mystery deepens.


Lucinda’s Secret (Book 3): The Grace children, desperate to escape prank-persecution from Thimbletack (a house boggart), visit their great-aunt Lucinda in a local asylum, discover a magical map, as well as the possible fate of their great great-uncle Arthur.


The Ironwood Tree (Book 4): When Jared espies a blond girl, and later, his evil doppelganger, riffling through Mallory’s bag at a fencing meet (which Mallory is participating in), and Mallory is kidnapped, Jared and Simon embark on a trek to save Mallory from the rock quarry dwarves who took her. Semi-grim finish, compared to the previous three books.


The Wrath of Mulgarath (Book 5): With help from Byron (a griffin they found in The Seeing Stone) and Hogsqueal (a hobgoblin, also befriended in The Seeing Stone), the Grace children rescue their mother (Helen) from a shape-changing Mulgarath, goblin leader of the dwarves, forest goblins and dragons. Satisfying, amusing conclusion: memorable.

#

The resulting film is set for release on February 15, 2008. The authors, along with John Sayles and a few others, are set to co-script. Mark Waters is set to direct.

Freddie Highmore plays "Jared/Simon Grace". Sarah Bolger plays Mallory Grace. Mary-Louise Parker plays Helen Grace. Andrew McCarthy plays Richard Grace. David Strathairn plays Arthur Spiderwick. Joan Plowright plays Aunt Lucinda Spiderwick.

Nick Nolte plays Mulgarath. Seth Rogan voices Hogsqueal. Martin Short voices Thimbletack.

The Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum

(pb; 1990: third book in Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne trilogy) 

 David Webb is forced to re-adopt the Jason Bourne persona when an incorporated Medusa (an updated version of the clandestine CIA-run tactical team he worked with during the Vietnam War) threatens him and his family. Not only that, he's stalking Carlos the Jackal, the man for whom the Bourne identity was created (in order that Bourne might kill Carlos). 

In the four and a half years since The Bourne Supremacy, David and Marie Webb, have had a second child, eight-month old Alison. Her brother, Jamie, is now five. Along for the ride, once again, is Alex Conklin, Webb/Bourne's one-time CIA handler, now well-connected friend. Morris Panov, Webb/Bourne's tough-minded psychiatrist, is back, too. 

 All the Bourne elements are present: the moral/emotional tug of war between David Webb, and his counterpart self, Bourne, as he protects his family against his enemies, known and unknown; fulminant explosions of death and mayhem in international locales; whiplash-fast plot twists; adulterated politics, linked to high finance. Ludlum introduces a new element to the Bourne series: high-profile bumbling characters. While Ludlum's work is often peppered with an esoteric sense of humor, it's usually subdued, buried beneath his plot skeins. Not so here – The Bourne Ultimatum sports a semi-amusing, almost distracting, subplot involving some East Coast Mafiosi. While it doesn't detract from the novel, it doesn't add anything worthwhile to it, either. (Still, Ludlum deserves kudos for tinkering with his genre formula.) 

 Another Bourne anomaly is how much “air time” Ilich Ramirez Sanchez (aka, Carlos the Jackal) gets. Like Webb/Bourne, who's fifty and well aware of the disadvantages this poses to him – slower reflexes, increased chance of injury, et cetera – Carlos is feeling his age. Both killers know that their face-off is a now-or-never deal. Unlike Bourne, however, Carlos is panicked that he, even with his wealth, his “army of old [spying] men” and Catholic Church-centered resources, is perceived to have lost his edge. 

 The final battle between Carlos and Webb/Bourne, which takes place in Novgorod (an infamous training center for Russian spies where replicas of American cities were built), is a brutal extravaganza, with an appropriate, plot-enveloping finish. With The Bourne Ultimatum, Bourne concocted an exhilarating series wrap-up, with all the (pertinent) series questions answered. I don't know if he intended this to be the last Bourne novel or not, but Eric Van Lustbader wrote a third sequel, The Bourne Legacy.

#

The film version of The Bourne Ultimatum is scheduled for an August 3, 2007 stateside release. Paul Greengrass, who directed The Bourne Supremacy, directed The Bourne Ultimatum, from a screenplay by Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns and George Nolfi. 

  Matt Damon reprised his role of David Webb/Jason Bourne. Joan Allen reprised her role of Pamela Landy. Julia Stiles reprised her role of Nicolette (aka "Nicky") Parsons. Tom Gallop reprised his role of Tom Cronin. David Strathairn played Noah Vosen. Paddy Considine played Simon Ross. Scott Glenn played Ezra Kramer. Albert Finney played Dr. Albert Hirsch.