Review Detail

What I liked: A Criminal Organization intended to get a particular brand of cookies. Who doesn't like cookies and doesn't have a specific brand they think is the top of the line? Things go sideways when Keeper and another soon-to-be member end up with a box of money, not cookies. When I think of villains, I imagine people who are out to do terrible things, and this is true for the members of E.V.I.L., but they draw the line at hurting pets or people, though you can harm people if they harm pets.
What Worked:
There is an excellent backstory waiting to emerge about Keeper; he lives with his grandmother, who he refers to throughout the book as a hobgoblin, and she is horrible and repeatedly says that he is just like his father. Grandma knows more than we are told in this first book. Second, Keeper has talent but doesn't know exactly what it is, but he likes to invent things, and Chaos, a leader in the E.V.I.L. organization, has been watching Keeper his whole life. I am curious why the author chose to do this with older school children rather than younger middle-grade children. Still, maybe cars are driven, and eventually, they will move on to being adults, so there will be bridging from young adults to older teens, depending on how long the series will be.
Final Verdict:
Keeper Chance and the Condrum of Chaos is the first solid book, and with this being written by the daughter of a well-known author with an excellent talent for quirky characters, I am sure this will be an intense series with lots of books to come