The Amazing Flight of Darius Frobisher (review)

Darius is heartbroken when his father fails to return from a ballooning expedition, but his woes are just beginning. Instead of being allowed to stay with his lovable but slightly incompetent housekeeper, Miss Hastings, he is forced to move in with his crochety aunt Inga, who offers him only a bed in a damp basement. Menaced by a bullying neighbor, the abjectly lonely boy discovers three things that help him survive: a rickety bike, a kind librarian, and an eccentric old man who fixes bikes, and whom Darius is sure he saw flying on a bike late one night, though Daedalus, the old man, denies it. The story is well paced with some undemanding mystery, following a predictable path—Darius and Daedalus become friends, and when things look darkest for Darius, their friendship turns out to be the catalyst for his salvation in more ways than one—with a few unexpected turns. Character development approaches the Dahl-esque here, with the larger-than-life villains one-sided and excessively rotten, though Harley does allow for a measure of forgiveness for Aunt Inga (it's true that she was never nice to Darius, but Darius never gave her a chance either). Harley's easygoing storytelling style will engage readers who like a mildly intrusive but not overly clever or ironic narrator. Suspense builds steadily for the perennially appealing put-upon orphan, beset on all sides by the vicious injustice of mean people, and the climax is spectacularly delivered by a miraculous trip on a flying bicycle built in a basement workshop; oh, yeah, this taps into some classic mechanic-geek fantasies. Dahl fans and budding engineers will enjoy the ride.