Walls within Walls (review)

The four Smithfork children, twelve-year-old CJ, nine-year-old Brid, six-year-old Patrick, and toddler Carron, aren't crazy about moving to Manhattan from their beloved Brooklyn home. Their huge new yet historic flat, however, is filled with mysterious details—snatches of poetry written on the moldings around windows, and a mammoth painting of an eye whose painted tears prove to contain coded words. As they unravel the code, the kids find out that it was part of a literal treasure hunt laid out decades ago by the wealthy magnate who owned the flat, and they're determined to follow the clues to the end and uncover the treasure—if a competing treasure-seeker and clueless parental restrictions don't stop them first. The writing tends to be shallow and stodgily literal, and the plot has some serious slow patches, especially when large chunks of encyclopedic information spill implausibly out of characters' mouths. However, the book has much of the enterprising spirit of old-fashioned series fiction about young sleuths from the Hardy Boys to Trixie Belden, and despite its length it has much of their accessibility as well (enhanced by occasional monochromatic charcoal-textured illustrations). The details of the old building, its secret nooks and crannies, and the bits of coded clues secreted throughout it are atmospheric and enticing, and there's a good balance between secure adult protection and looming danger. The codes are technically pretty easily solvable (though their New York implications will be likeliest to be guessed by locals), and the tour of city landmarks brings its own enjoyment, so readers not up to the sophistication of Balliett's Chasing Vermeer (BCCB 7/04) may find this a more suitable puzzle-themed jaunt. Appendices sort out fact from fiction on the elements of New York history and geography involved in the story and offer sources for those elements and more.