Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsLaugh out loud funny with the weird sense of humor of Andrew Mackay!
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2018
If you thought In Their Shoes was funny, this Trilogy has them beet by a mile! I never laughed so hard as I did with the Belch Field Trip. My heart went out to Vicky and Lizzie laughing along the way with Vicky and Lizzie’s First Period. And the plotting with mishaps and my mouth hanging open with Let’s Kill Mr. Pond. When you put theses together, you have one hell of a sick (as in good) warped mine giving you a comedy show like no other. I applaud you Andrew Mackay!
Book 1 Let's Kill Mr. Pond
Everybody had a teacher in school that didn’t like them or you didn’t like a teacher. It happens for many different reasons. But to hate a teacher to the point of premeditated killing, well that is way out there. Andrew Mackay managed to come up with a story just like that. He used his cense of humor throughout the book and you find yourself giggling and then feel bad because of the situation. Yes that is Andrew’s way to keep you locked in place and turning the pages.
Johnnie and Sam were I guess you would call them best friends and live in the projects of Chrome Junction. I love how real events were added in the story. Anyway, the two boys were as opposite as could be. Sam was smart and on the quiet side, living with his parents and little sister in the fifth tower. Johnnie comes from a broken family and lives with his Dad, who is never around always working and his big brother who is way into sex to much and lives in the third tower.
The boys go to Chrome Junction Academy for school. I can’t quite tell you what grade they are in, because over in the UK, they call grades way different then here in the US. I want to say Middle School (7 or 8th grade). Out of their teachers, Mr Pond seemed to dislike Jonnie more then the rest and Johnnie convinced Sam that he needed to be killed. So the story takes off from here. The watching, the plotting, the planing and the timing. When the boys thought the time was right, they would strike.
The part of the police questioning and how it explained the who , the why and the where was fantastic. It put more inside to the story and some of the surprises were mind blowing, especially one. As a parent and grandparent, I have to laugh at some of the stuff Sam comes out with. Such as: By the way, is it normal for all white stuff to come out? and "Looks like an olden days machine thing" as Sam pointed at the CD Stereo player. "He's left his ... What ever that thing is ... playing music" These two don't know what a CD Player is. At least is wasn't an 8 Track player like I had as a teen. LOL! As usual, I couldn’t put the book down and I truly thought the boys wouldn’t go through with it. Andrew Mackay has a way of twisting the story just right so you think you are going one way, but you are really going the other way and I love that about his book
Book 2 Vicky & Lizzie"s First Period
This was insane! I laughed my butt off and cried like a baby. Memories of my childhood came flooding back. Andrew Mackay sure was on the mark with this one.
As a joke, Vicky and Lizzie pulled a stunt on their class. They got the very first period and boy did they over dramatize the event. Blood everywhere and squirting from between their legs. My first period was nothing like that, lol. But they were caught by Jody and that started a fight. That fight lead to another fight and a close friendship to end.
This story touched on suicide and the possible signs. It showed that there is no age limit to suicide. There are many reasons for a person to want to kill them selves, such as being molested by a parent or family member, being blamed for something life changing, when you didn’t do anything wrong. You never know what is happening to a person or what is going through their mind. Andrew Mackay has a sick sense of humor when it comes to his writing, but he usually has a touchy subject in his books and he lands them with grace and sensitivity. That’s what makes his books so good.
Book 3 The Belch Park Field Trip
This has got to be Andrew Mackay’s best book yet! I laughed out loud so hard, I had tears streaming down my face. He didn’t miss a beat with this one. School trip turned horror movie with Jumanji meets Wally World. It was Awesome!! I don’t know how many times my mouth hit the floor with the destruction , the teachers and the kids from another school.
Inspection day and the kids are being taken to Blech Park so they won’t destroy the inspection. But nobody said they couldn’t destroy the park. The teachers had their own little field day as the kids did the park. Of course there has to be trouble. Another school who hates Chrome Junction Academy decided to bully the kids. They say bad looses and good wins, well that game of war turned into the most funny, gruesome head count of loss. The two sets of kids left each ride with their mark on it.
The zoo part of the park. Every human loves seeing the animals in their glass habitats. But did you ever think that the animals didn’t like their zoo? Did you ever think that animals would be out for bloody revenge? I’d think again!
As you are rounding the corner to the end, you are left shaking your head, laughing inside or out and wondering “ could this really happened in real life?” I live not to far from Six Flags Great Adventure and yes I could see it happening there, or not!
Andrew Mackay, my hats off to you on this one!
So if you want a really good laugh out loud book, then this is the book for you!
