Review: The Secret in the Stars (Nancy Drew #156)

Well, I’m back after two years! Sorry, I’ve had a rough time, and have only gotten back into reading recently. Hopefully, I’ll actually manage to keep this blog running this time!

In "The Secret in the Stars", Nancy, Bess, and George go to a park for a "star watch" party hosted by Dr. Stars, a famous astronomer. When they arrive, the park is empty, and so is Dr. Stars' van. While investing in the van, Dr. Stars shows up and reveals that his telescope is missing its focus lens. Is somebody trying to sabotage the show?

Nancy Drew is awfully forgetful in this book. She forgets her notebook in a public park, she forgets to ask Bess a question that could have helped rule out a suspect, and she forgets to read Dr. Star’s biography on his website. That last one is particularly annoying, as had she actually read the biography, she would know that the Dr. Stars she’s been investigating was an imposter. Even worse, she clearly was on the page at some point, as she had it printed out.

Even if she weren’t so uncharacteristically forgetful, it really felt as if she could have solved the case a lot sooner than she did. It was blatantly obvious from the start that Dr. Stars was an imposter, but Nancy takes a painfully long time to start investigating him. I also have a really hard time accepting that nobody in River Heights knew what Dr. Stars looked like, even considering the year this book came out.

It doesn’t help that there’s a 20-year age difference between the fake and real Dr. Stars.  Dr. Stars even had a cartoon logo of himself on his van, showing that he looked nothing like the imposter, and only Nancy, her friends, and one of the suspects noticed. It doesn't make sense to me. It might be nitpicking, but it was quite distracting to me and took me out of the story several times.

The other major problem I have with this book is Bess’ actions during it. She acts like a creepy fan to a pair of celebrities, causing them to have to flee the place they are in twice. Why did she think that trying to take a photo of them without their permission would end well? While she is called out on this, and she does apologize for spying on the celebrities, it still feels out of character for Bess. Bess also decides it’s a good idea to try to crawl in through a window in the middle of the night while Nancy’s doing research online, scaring Nancy and nearly getting Bess bashed over the head. Apparently, she didn’t think of knocking on the window.

This book took me a long time to read, as I waited for Nancy to figure out the obvious. It doesn't help that the book is quite slow-paced. If I wasn't reading this for the blog, I wouldn't have bothered finishing it. The book does get a bit better when Nancy finally realizes that Dr. Stars is an imposter, but by then I was already bored of it. 

I would not recommend this book, as it's one of the worst digests I have read. Admittedly, it was probably not the best book to start off with, but I've got plenty more books to read. Up next, the Three Investigators Crimebusters! 

       

Rating 

2 out of 10