Product Description

Klaus and Violet attempt to follow their sister, who is trapped by Count Olaf in a car driving fast up the mountain. First they must stop the caravan they are travelling in hurtling over a cliff. While Sunny is obliged to make breakfast for Count Olaf, his unpleasant associates and the repellent Esme Squalor, Klaus and Violet have come across Carmelita Spats in a cave, and, incredibly, Quigley, the last Quagmire triplet who is in fact alive. Climbing up to the smouldering remains of the VFD headquarters, the Baudelaires find themselves at the bottom of a steep, icy slope, leading up to Count Olaf and Sunny. Olaf has been joined by people even more evil than he is, and kidnaps Carmelita, while the Baudelaires escape along the Stricken Stream, hoping to meet the survivors of VFD at Hotel Denouement.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10168 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 337 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Clocking up a whopping 337 pages, The Slippery Slope is the longest volume in Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events so far, but Book the Tenth reads so easily and is so entertaining that it actually feels half that length. With only three more books to go now before this popular saga ends, probably miserably, there is now much more of a sense of a single over-arching storyline that is heading towards big revelations and cataclysmic conclusions.

All the familiar, well-loved elements of a Lemony Snicket adventure are here again, and the action picks up where it left off at the end of Book the Ninth, The Carniverous Carnival. Violet and Klaus, the oldest of the three Baudelaire orphans, are plummeting down a mountainside in an out-of-control caravan, certain to be smashed to smithereens at any second. Travelling up the mountain in a car is their youngest sibling, Sunny, who has been kidnapped by Count Olaf, his girlfriend Esme Squalor, and their scurrilous sidekicks. Olaf, as ever, is evil and mean and never lets up in his desire to snatch the children's inherited fortune. He really is a villain with a one-track mind.

Violet and Sunny set about saving themselves, then their sister, and then navigating through the Mortmain Mountains to stop their nemesis from committing more really bad deeds. The plotline is as tortured, hilarious and annoying as ever--with tangents explored at every turn--but it's so good nobody will really mind. There are tantalising clues that hint at a Baudelaire parent being alive after all, more possibilities about the secret organisation VFD and help from an unexpected ally.

The author is more careful than ever, now that he is down to writing only one bumper book a year, to give fantastic value for money. The gag quotient per page is stunningly high, and consistently good. The Grim Grotto cannot arrive a moment too soon. (Age 9 and over) --John McLay

Synopsis
Klaus and Violet attempt to follow their sister, who is trapped by Count Olaf in a car driving fast up the mountain. First they must stop the caravan they are travelling in hurtling over a cliff. While Sunny is obliged to make breakfast for Count Olaf, his unpleasant associates and the repellent Esme Squalor, Klaus and Violet have come across Carmelita Spats in a cave, and, incredibly, Quigley, the last Quagmire triplet who is in fact alive. Climbing up to the smouldering remains of the VFD headquarters, the Baudelaires find themselves at the bottom of a steep, icy slope, leading up to Count Olaf and Sunny. Olaf has been joined by people even more evil than he is, and kidnaps Carmelita, while the Baudelaires escape along the Stricken Stream, hoping to meet the survivors of VFD at Hotel Denouement.

From the Author
Dear Reader,

Like handshakes, house pets, or raw carrots, many things are preferable when not slippery. Unfortunately, in this miserable volume, I am afraid that Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire run into more than their fair share of slipperiness during their harrowing journey up -- and down -- a range of strange and distressing mountains.

In order to spare you any further repulsion, it would be best not to mention any of the unpleasant details of this story, particularly a secret message, a toboggan, a deceitful trap, a swarm of snow gnats, a scheming villain, a troupe of organized youngsters, a covered casserole dish, and a surprising survivor of a terrible fire.

Unfortunately, I have dedicated my life to researching and recording the sad tale of the Baudelaire Orphans. There is no reason for you to dedicate yourself to such things, and you might instead dedicate yourself to letting this slippery book slip from your hands into a nearby trash receptacle, or deep pit.

With all due respect,

Lemony Snicket

Customer Reviews

A very slippery slope story
Like handshakes, house pets, or raw carrots, many things are preferable when not slippery. Unfortunately, in this miserable volume, I am afraid that Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire run into more than their fair share of slipperiness during their harrowing journey up - and down - a range of strange and distressing mountains. In order to spare you any further repulsion, it would be best not to mention any of the unpleasant details of this story, in particular a secret message, a toboggan, a deceitful trap, a swarm of snow gnats, a scheming villain, a troupe of organized youngsters, a covered casserole dish, and a surprising survivor of a terrible fire. The rating for this book given by me is: 7/ 10.

BEST YET.GREAT READ.
I think this was Lemony Snicket's best book.And i would know.I've read every single book written by him and i love them all.This book climbed up the slippery slope of criticism with ease and i absolutely loved it.I can't see why hardly any other people like it.It was my favourite book in my favourite.And believe me, i am way hard to please.Hardly any authors manage to make me want to read every book they've written, every book about them, any book that mentions their name, even if it only mentions them once.But Lemony Snicket has succeeded in making me want to do that.And believe me, i have done that.No page mentioning Snicket's name has failed to be anylised by me until the colour fades out of it and the ink starts to smudge.Lemony Snicket is one of the greatest authors of his time.

slipping a bit
In my opinion I think that the other books were excellant but this one is as the title, slipping a bit. The others had description but not too much but this one I am ashamed to say has way too much description and is by far the bad book of his series.