Book Reviews and More: Snoop

Snoop

Scholastic Canada

ISBN 9781546126089

eISBN 9781546126096

ASIN B0DBCKHJG9

I picked this up a few days after it released. But I had a really busy week at work and with the family. So I had to wait till late in the weekend to give it a read. I have to admit I sat for several hours and devoured the book in a single sitting, on a Sunday afternoon. I could just not put it down!

I absolutely love reading Gordon Korman books, either by myself or with one or more of my children. I have now read over 75 of his works. As I have stated in reviews of several of Korman’s books over the last few years: mid 2022, Korman published his 100th book. Yes you read that correctly, his hundredth book, as of the summer of 2025 he is up to 209 volumes in print. My introduction to Korman’s works was the 39 Clues back in 2009.

My son and I started reading Gordon Korman books together a few years ago, when he was given one as an end of year gift by his teacher. She gave the whole class the same Scholastic edition and wrote a note to each student in their copy of the book. Prior to that I had a read a few of his contributions to the 39 Clues series and had enjoyed them. Since they we have both been hooked. My son often reads these books to me or with me. I picked up this to read next because of it being the newest release.

The description of this volume states:

“If Carter hadn't been checking his phone, he might have seen his brother coming down the ski slopes in his direction. And if Carter had seen his brother in time and avoided the crash, he might not have two broken legs right now.

Oops.

Now Carter is stuck at home for weeks, with both his legs in casts. Bored, he starts checking out the live feeds from police cams around his town. Before he knows it, he's obsessed -- watching his classmates when they don't know he's looking, and discovering some other VERY STRANGE things going on that no one else is noticing.

But what happens when Carter is found out... and the people he's watching know where he lives?”

The about the author for this edition states:

“GORDON KORMAN wrote his first novel, This Can’t Be Happening at MacDonald Hall, when he was thirteen years old. Since then, he’s written over a hundred other books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Restart, the Sydney Taylor Honor Book Linked, Slacker, The Fort, and Mixed Up. He lives in Long Island with his family and can be found online at his website.”

I highlighted two passages in this book because both were very poignant, they are:

“It makes no sense. I was never the kind of person who checked the phone all night. But now just the fact that I can’t makes me want to. Oh, sure, probably no one is trying to reach me at three a.m. That’s beside the point. They can’t reach me even if they want to. I’m unreachable, offline. The vast electronic network that connects everybody on the planet is passing me by. It’s like I don’t even exist. I’m invisible.”

and

“For weeks, nobody sneezed around here without my saying “Gesundheit,” even if they couldn’t hear me. And yeah, I took it too far. I own that. There’s a point where snooping turns into spying—where a hobby becomes an obsession—and that’s not good. But it’s proof of how much information is out there if you’re willing to go find it. You just have to know where to draw the line.”

Oh my goodness, what an excellent read. We fallow Carter as he experiences two broken legs, then recovery at home living vicariously through screes. When he discovers the municipal cameras and then figures out how to exploit private cameras he starts spending a lot of time watching what is going on around town. AT first he is following a girl he likes and a guy he doesn’t, and soon he has nicknames for people he encounters frequently. But when he confesses his new obsession after a false alert to the police, he becomes a modern ‘boy who cired wolf’. And he keeps pushing harder and harder. But he soon realized that things are not always as they appear.

He seems to be ostracized by the entire 7th grade class. He believes his teacher is not who he thought he was. He knows there is an endangered species smuggling ring using the town as a base of operations. And he knows on at least 2 occasions he might be the only one able to prevent disaster.

The story is masterfully written. The way Korman tackles screen addiction is excellent. The set up with the accident, and the life changing experiences, and the way the story concludes, just wow!

Only a few of the over 75 titles I have read by Korman have not got a 5/5 start rating. And this one get a strong 5/5 as well, it is one of the best.

Another excellent School Story from the master of the genre.

Books by Gordon Korman:

MacDonald Hall Series:

This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall (1978)

Go Jump in the Pool (1979)

Beware the Fish! (1980)

The Wizzle War (1982)

(formerly The War With Mr. Wizzle)

The Zucchini Warriors (1988)

Light’s Camera, Disaster (1991)

(aka Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood)