The Devil and His Boy by Anthony Horowitz Date of Publication: 1998 ISBN: 0698119134 Number of Pages: 178

REQUIRED READING ABILITY: Average
GENRES: Historical Fiction, Adventure, Mystery
THEMES: Appearance versus Reality, Good versus Evil, Coming of Age, Loyalty, Family, Friendship

SUMMARY:
The story begins with a mysterious meeting of Queen Elizabeth I and her Welsh wizard, John Dee. The queen has asked Dee to perform some sorcery in order to locate information on a shadowy figure from her past. The reader is left to wonder why the queen is interested in this person, and why she is so upset when she learns that he has passed away some time previously. When she learns, however, that a young son has been left behind, she sends one of her trusted servants to the town of Framlingham in order to locate the lad, Tom Falconer.

Poor Tom has no idea his fortunes are about to turn, and when his crooked and mean-spirited employers virtually sell him to a stranger who arrives at their inn, he is simply happy to be able to escape. In no time at all, however, a series of circumstances evolve that leave Tom alone, his protector dead, and the serial criminal, Ratsey, hot on his trail to London. In his efforts to escape Ratsey and find “Moorfield,” Tom meets all manner of Elizabethan characters, many of whom really existed, including Shakespeare. He is eventually taken in by a troupe of actors led by the unusual Dr. Mobius, and hopes to begin an acting career that should provide him with a permanent disguise to keep Ratsey from finding him. During rehearsals, however, he begins to suspect that the Garden Players are not all the appear to be, and that their plan to play before the queen has a deeper and more sinister intent. Can Tom figure out the mystery in time, escape Dr. Mobius and Ratsey, discover his true identity, and save the queen before it is too late?

WHO WOULD LOVE THIS BOOK? A kid who...

• likes historical fiction
• is interested in the theatre and Elizabethan drama
• is interested in William Shakespeare and his time
• likes mysterious plots that move fairly quickly and aren’t overly complicated
• likes Anthony Horowitz

WHAT ELSE?
Anthony Horowitz is a popular and well-respected author of books like the Alex Rider series, as well as a screen-writer of such works as A and E’s Midsomer Murders. In this story he has taken the Elizabethan time period and created a fairly simple tale of treason and hidden identities. It is not a hard read, despite the period references, and the action moves along quite quickly.

RELATED LINKS:
Author's Website
Author's bibliography and biography