It has an unusual start, in that the action takes place over a weekend during term time. The children have to be back on Tuesday, so there is limited time to solve the mystery. This time dimension is unusual in a Five story, and it serves to provide some additional tension and excitement as the plot unfolds.
I love the chapters when the hike starts. There are very nice descriptions of the countryside and some enticing place-names too. It's the only adventure I can think of that takes place in the Autumn: mostly we get Spring or (mainly) summertime adventures, with two in wintertime, but here we are treated to descriptions of woodlands and countryside in brown and golden colours. It makes a nice change.
The nicely paced and well described start also reminds me a bit of Caravan, where we get a couple of carefree chapters on the road before the adventure kicks in.
The part where Anne and Dick have their adventure at Dirty Dick's cottage is great. There aren't too many scenes where the kids split up and have mini-adventures on their own: I wonder why ? (it was a constant device in the Scooby Doo cartoons I watched as a kid...). I especially love the scene where Anne and Dick are frightened by the bells ('are we hearing long-ago bells Dick ?"' - a really great use of language.
Then the clues from the escaped convict, including the immortal "Maggie Knows"
In some ways this is Julian's adventure. He really comes into his own in this adventure: such as the spur of the moment decision to camp out at Two Trees, not even consulting the others. He continues to take a commanding lead throughout, and his character develops strongly here. In previous adventures the principal character is usually George, but from now on the adventures revolve much more around Julian, and George becomes more subordinated. A bit sad in a way: one of the reasons why the later adventures aren't usually as strong as those before this book.
I mentioned before that Eileen Soper doesn't cover herself in glory in her illustrations for this book: several of the drawings have various mistakes in them...
If this was a whisky review I'd say:
1) excellent arrival
2) wonderful development
3) slightly disappointing finish.
by the latter I mean that its one of those adventures where the thing gets wrapped up too quickly and easily. They work out the clues (at last, they're a bit slow on the uptake TBH) and go fishing for treasure and after a perfunctory chase the adventure is over.
Given that, I am now of the view that Fall into Adventure is actually the stronger story, and maybe Trouble is too. The ninth book just has more twists and turns, its a much more complex and ultimately satisfying plot. Maggie and Dick just aren't enough of a threat I now realise.
So, though I enjoyed the re-read, especially the first half, ultimately the book has fallen in my rankings. It's still a top-5 story for me, but 4,9, and 8 I think are better...
OK, now on to number 11, which I think is the first real clunker in the series...
