THe KOOL-5 Mystery Series - The Phantom of Raymond Villa By Sonu Dabral

No matter how old you become there are few things that you would love to do that love in your childhood. For me, that would be watching some good cartoon or animation, reading comics and young adult or middle-grade storybooks. The Phantom of Raymond Villa is one such wonderfull story. I would like to apologize Sonu Dabral for delaying the review of this book.

Book Blurb

The Kool-5 mystery hunters are a bunch of five spunky youngsters Maya, Munch, Jinx, Nano and Dodo, who live in an urban residential complex. The adventure seekers love to chillax and play pranks on The Gabbar , the security guard. They also hold secret meetings in their Headquarters an old, abandoned garage where they coin Kool new words tank up from the car pantry and brainstorm over baffling and sometimes dangerous mysteries... The K-5 stumble upon their very first mystery when strange hauntings are reported from Raymond Villa, a deserted, old mansion in their neighbourhood. Strange voices, dancing lights, a claw, and crashing chandeliers, greet those who dare to venture into the house. But most scary and eerie of all is the Phantom of Raymond Villa, who auto-magically materialises at different places at the same time and scares the daylights out of people. There are so many puzzling questions: Who is the mysterious sender of the threatening letters? How does the paint inside the villa change colour? What secret is old Grandma Gomes hiding? Who is the mysterious tramp? How does water turn to blood? Who scribbled the deadly warning and ransacked the H.Q? Is it the spirit of the young boy Mark, who met a tragic end in the villa decades ago, or some sinister human conspiracy? The podgy property dealer Mr.Bansal, the buyer Mr. Ahuja, Sharkface the mad scientist, Raju the head painter, and even The Gabbar, are all prime suspects in the challenging mystery before the K-5. There is never a lull as they embark on a roller-coaster adventure to unravel the clues and solve the baffling case of The Phantom Of Raymond Villa 

Our story started with a gang of 5 kids, each with different characteristic and skill (not supernatural skills though). The Gang loved to read mystery stories. They had given multiple names to various place, people & events to match their interest. Their dream was to solve a real mystery case. Their dream came true when suddenly they hear rumors of a ghost in neighborhood Raymond Villa. Intelligent Maya found something fishie as they have ventured into villa earlier but never felt any presence. They took the case unofficially and started tracking clues. They started visiting Raymond Villa, related places, and personalities. Everywhere they went one or other guy following or watching them. Read the book to know more.

I personally liked the way characters with their traits and sketched were introduced in introcution. The language of the book is easy enough for 4th or 5th grade. Kids in today's generation hardly connect with books. Especially in India where finding proper books for kids is difficult these type of books can help them cultivate reading habits. Book has everything that they love - fun, kids hokes, style of using their own words, mystery & suspense.

Talking about writing style, as I mentioned it is a middle-grade book so the author has written fast-paced fun filled content with the young audience in mind. Having said that any age group can read this book. It would help English learners to start reading. The book is having the sequel and it is already published. I am having high hopes for the sequel.

Talking about ratings

1. Cover - 4/5
2. Concept - 4/5
3. Title - 4/5
4. Characters - 5/5
5. Overall - 4/5

Book can be found at Amazon & Flipkart
Review from other readers can be found at GoodReads

We would like to thank Leadstart Publishers (Frog Books) for providing this opportunity to review book. Readers can check their wonderful collection of books by going through this link - Leadstart Books