“Certain people have said that the world is like a calm pond, and that anytime a person does even the smallest thing, it is as if a stone has dropped into the pond, spreading circles of ripples further and further out, until the entire world has been changed by one tiny action.”

From Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Penultimate Peril.

The twelfth and second-to-last (penultimate) book in the series picks up where The Grim Grotto ended and we find the orphaned Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire arriving at the Hotel Denouement.  The children are to hide in plain sight from Count Olaf and other members of his evil organization by acting as concierges for the hotel.  The Baudelaires are warned to be careful and to complete whatever tasks the guests of the Dewey-Decimal-System-themed hotel require of them.  The children are able to navigate the hotel, but they keep encountering various villains from their past.  After a day of running, working, and serving, all three children realize that an soon-approaching meeting of the V.F.D. is in danger of never happening.  A secret ally appears to tell the children of a hidden library of secrets is located under the hotel’s pond, the children are connected to an accidental death, and the mysterious arrival of someone who can clear the Baudelaires’ reputation is delayed.  Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are quickly running out of time and options as Olaf’s evil plan comes closer to completion.

This book acts as a reunion of sorts for the series.  The hotel acts as a gathering place for both the good and the evil characters from the Baudelaires’ past, but in true Lemony Snicket fashion, those who could help the children never seem to see those who want to harm the children.  This can be a frustrating element to the book, but it does allow the Baudelaire’s resilience to shine through.  The pace of the book is satisfying; slow moments are used to allow the reader a chance to pick up on clues that will be important later on.  The Penultimate Peril is a solid book that sets up well for the final book and draws in readers, both to the individual book and the series.