I’ve always said that the reason of the SEA Reading Challenge was to find more mystery, fantasy, and other genre books set in SEA and by SEA authors. So when I heard about Dangerous Island, I knew that it fit the bill, even if I was a bit older than the target audience.

Dangerous Island is part of the Triple Nine Sleuths series, which I admittedly have not read before. When we start the book, the triple nine sleuths – Corey, Colton, and Stacey – are on St. Johns island for a holiday camp. While visiting Colton’s Aunt Kathy, the three teens (and the people with them) discover a corpse, who is soon revealed to be Aunt Kathy’s colleague. With Aunt Kathy deemed a person of interest, the heat is on for the three sleuths to discover the truth behind the case.

Reading this book, I felt that this was a Singaporean version of the Hardy Boys or the Famous Five – Group of teens solve crimes ahead of law enforcement. Perhaps it’s because of the nostalgia factor, but I do think that the Hardy Boys and Famous Five have more escapism/charm to them.

I think the main thing that hindered my enjoyment of the book was the fact that I was very aware of the fact that the third person POV constantly moved from character to character. I think I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if the number of character POVs was kept to the three main characters, or perhaps if I was younger, I wouldn’t have noticed the constant changes.

There was also one chapter that was a flashback but wasn’t explicitly noted as so, which caused some confusion at first – that may be, however, due to the format of the book (I borrowed the ebook version).

All that said, I did enjoy the fact that the three main characters had their own storyline. Corey is very shy but very smart, and Colton seems likeable enough, but it was Stacey’s storyline that drew my attention. She’s been told that her mom’s dead, but [SPOILER ALERT] earlier books have revealed that her mother is missing, not dead. The subplot about what happened to her mother and who her father is was interesting and I would be interested in reading more just to find out what happens.

I also quite enjoyed the dynamics between the children, who seem to be pretty close to each other. They do seem to be a bit too adult-ish at times, e.g. the kids giving adults love advice, but when they’re alone, they seem like nice kids who work well as a group.

Overall, this was a pretty fun read. I think I’m a bit too old for this series, but I think it’s great that kids have a series they can read in addition to the classic Hardy Boys and Famous Five mysteries (and the rest, which I still reread when I need a quick comfort read).