I really enjoyed this book, and think that fans of The Mysterious Benedict Society, Escape from Mr. Limoncello's Library, The Westing Game, and Book Scavengers will have a lot of fun with this middle grade read.

I couldn't get into this book. It took forever for the kids to decipher the nonsense clues. The narrative switched between the 3 characters too often. It was hard to identify or even like any of the characters. When you are faced with the slacker, the stuck up, or the cheater, it was hard to pick a person to care about.
I liked the idea of the contest and I thought the clues would have been really fun to figure out, but again the constant switching was distracting. It was hard to follow which clue was being worked on by which person.
I was unable to finish due to lack of connection to a character and I reached a point of disinterest fairly quickly. I got to the point that I didn't care if anyone figured out the clues and I really didn't care to follow the mystery.

My middle schooler and I enjoy a good puzzling story. What helped here was that my past knowledge and visits to Chicago helped me envision the sites. What I thought a bit hokey and formulaic was the Luigi Lemoncello-esque old rich dude with a sense of humor. Wondering if there will be more adventures of the kids?

What a fun book. 3 kids are chosen to compete in a contest to win a scholarship. They have to travel all over Chicago in order to find and photograph the answers to their clues. They also get use of a cell phone, a debit card, and a private car with driver while they are searching. The 3 solve the clues with varying degrees of success but as they report in the notice something odd. The man in charge doesn't seem to know the answers himself and puts them all off without announcing a winner.
They 3 soon join forces (against the rules) and discover that the whole thing is a scam - or rather, not a scholarship but a stipulation of a will and they are being used as pawns to do the legwork.
But, they may just get to keep the inheritance themselves if they can solve the last puzzle.
Funny, action, puzzles, and a bit of history thrown in. Lots of fun.

I feel like the plot was trying a bit too hard to be sneaky, to trick and obscure. It's a pleasant enough read and I can appreciated a plot that encourages readers to look closer at the world around them, to explore local history and find their own adventure.

5 stars  -  Special thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy!

The Ambrose Deception captured my attention with the first paragraph and I continued reading the rest with glee!  I haven't been this excited about a middle grade read since I first found Kiki Strike by Kirsten Miller.  Seriously, this review should just be exclamation points.   This scavenger hunt by three preteens will take you on a wild ride when they are chosen to compete for a selective scholarship that no one has ever heard about.  Wilf, Melissa, and Bondi are given access to everything a kid would need to go on the ultimate mystery.  As the kids figure out the clues, they also find that there is more mystery as to who is giving this prize and why.

All of these kids are smart and each approaches the hunt with varying degrees of interest and need for the grand prize of ten thousand dollars.  As they finish the end of the hunt, they decide to come together to unravel who is behind this game.  Melissa is probably my favorite since she is a snarky red-head that is intent on making this work.  Wilf just wants to get by and have fun.  Bondi really is smart but hides that fact by his antics.  The background of Chicago featured easily recognizable sites and since I was there recently, it was just the perfect background. It is always exciting to have seen landmarks that you are reading about.  I really want more from this author!

Three students picked for a $10,000 scholarship. All three are given clues, all three are given phones,

all get cameras, and all of them have private drivers. What's the difference between this book and all the others in this genre? These aren't the smart kids. There's a nobody, a slacker, and a show-off. None of their middle-school teachers think that they'll ever amount to anything. But, not only do the three manage to solve their clues (albeit with some help), they manage the twist in the story as well...

A fun story - very Chicago-centric so I'm not sure how much other people will enjoy it but it's definitely a fun story for middle-schoolers.



Four stars

This book comes out February 13

ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

Ecton, Emily and Gilbert Ford Ambrose Deception, 368 pages. Disney, FEB 2018. $17. Language: PG (6 swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: G; Violence: G (some danger).

Melissa, Bondi, Wilf – they are not the most shining examples of students, but each has a supposedly prestigious scholarship offer – at least one that they and their schools can not ignore. But the final terms are odd – the three will be competing against each other to solve a series of clues and they only have a few days to do it. They have almost unlimited funds and a private driver and they even have a bit of hope.

Ecton adds another interesting option to the puzzle genre. Give this to those students who like Blue Balliet and Chris Grabenstein.

MS – ADVISABLE. Cindy, Library Teacher

A Solid Clue Based Mystery

You know how these books work. Kids have to race to solve puzzles and follow clues in order to secure some sort of reward. My questions always are - are the kids interesting, are the puzzles/clues clever, is it fast paced, does the plot hang together at all plausibly? Well, to be honest, this book didn't blow me away on any of those tests, but it did way better than average on each one, so I'm a happy reader.

The set up is that three kids are selected to compete in a clue based race, with the winner receiving a cash scholarship. Or so it seems, since it's clear from the outset that there's something else, something fishy, going on behind the scenes.

As to the kids, they are supposed to be the kind of slacker losers who would never be selected for an actual scholarship competition. I'm not quite sure why this loserness had to be so hard pedaled, but the good news is that the kids have enough character, as characters, that they grow on the reader almost despite the author's efforts. The better news is that once we get to the fishy part, (about 2/3's of the way in), the kids team up and we get to see their decency, street smarts, and loyalty.

The clue angle is Chicago based. That is the kids, (who have three different clues each), have to find and photograph specific places and things in downtown Chicago. This is a fine idea and it's executed exceptionally well. The clues are actually sneaky, creative and fair, and the places the kids go to make sense. You don't have to know anything about Chicago to enjoy the puzzle, although that would certainly add a bit to the fun. The scavenger hunt also doesn't depend on coincidence, serendipity or luck. Real, sneaky riddles have to be solved in a real practical way. This is not one of those lame books in which answers just sort of appear out of the air, which I think shows it has respect for the young reader.

The book is fast paced. We alternate chapters among the three kids. Chapters start with a recap of the clues and solutions to date. The narrative is broken up by notes, letters, text messages and the like, and that variety punches up the straight prose sections. Each kid has bits of backstory, (about parents, siblings, school problems), but that isn't allowed to weigh down the action.

The plot was straightforward for the most part. It got wacky/silly at the end, but by then you knew where we were headed and knew we were headed for a socko finish at the end of the rollercoaster ride. It helped that once you get to solving the fishy part the kids are more interesting, engaging and high energy, and the reader is primed for pretty much any sort of happy ending.

So, while this started just a shade too dark and downer at the outset it opened up and built up interest pretty quickly. It was a good puzzle adventure that basically played fair and I'd expect most readers would get sucked in and be happy to stay for the whole ride. A good find.

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

It took me a few chapters to get into it but once I did I kept reading because I wanted to figure out what was going on. Three misfit kids are chosen to compete in a scholarship contest. They each get money, a chauffeur, a phone, and riddles to solve. The kids are supposed to work alone but eventually they team up and figure out what really is going on. You’ll love what they figure out and how the story ends!

Also read: The Ambrose Deception by Emily Ecton, a love letter to Chicago that tries to borrow some of the puzzle-solving charm of books like The Mysterious Benedict Society and Book Scavenger with mixed success. (If you enjoy those kinds of books — or if you love Chicago — it’s definitely worth putting on your list.)

This book reminded me of the Westing Game with the twists and turns that were taken. I also thought that the characters were well defined and the story moved at a good pace.

I really enjoy stories like this that are part scavenger hunt, mystery, and puzzle to be solved. It was a fun and creative plot that I thought would be excellent and enjoyed by middle grade readers.

This is a fun and funny mystery about three kids who are offered scholarships to solve three clues each. They are given excellent resources (a driver and a debit card for expenses) but are warned not to get anyone else to help them. The clues revolve around specific sites in Chicago, which may be unfamiliar to some readers but the story and mystery are so compelling and so funny, it will easily keep readers engaged to the very satisfying ending.

Melissa, Wilf, and Bondi are all informed that they have been invited to compete for a scholarship, and find themselves lured into a hunt for clues across the city of Chicago. They each have a driver at their disposal, as well as a charge card, and each of them set out to figure out a series of clues. There are bumps along the way, but just as they all get close to the end, they are challenged by the children of the man who put together the hunt and must work together to prove that they really did solve all of the clues and should be awarded the money over the other heirs.

Strengths: Chicago certainly is a great city for this sort of tale-- Blue Balliet's art mysteries as well as Malone's Sixty-Eight RoomsAdventures and Fantaskey's Isabel Feeney, Star Reporter all incorporate city landmarks into the mysteries of the stories. This had some similarities to Chambliss' Book Scavenger series and a feel like Grabenstein's Mr. Lemoncello's Library.

Weaknesses: I wanted a lot more information much earlier in the book as to why the children were involved in solving these puzzles. When it didn't come, I lost interest because I didn't believe that they would fool their parents into thinking they were really working on a scholarship activity.
What I really think: All of the titles mentioned as similar to this story do not do well in my library, with the exception of The Book Scavenger. I will pass on purchasing.

THE AMBROSE DECEPTION is a middle grade treasure hunt. Melissa, Wilf, and Bondi are chosen from their middle schools to compete in a contest that will give the winner a $10,000 scholarship. Each is given a cellphone, a debit card, a driver and three riddles to solve.

Melissa lives with her brother and her grandmother. She makes money for lunches and bus fare by doing homework for other students. Otherwise, she is managing to make her way through middle school really under the radar. Bondi is a show-off who has a great sense of smell and a mother who is fixated on kale. Wilf is a slacker who is determined to work through his "to do" list now that he has a driver and debit card and may get to the clues eventually.

The three kids work independently at first. But soon begin to think that it is a scam orchestrated by "Mr. Smith" for some nefarious purpose. It turns out that all the clues they are following are part of the will of billionaire Enoch Ambrose who has recently died. The ones who solve the riddle will inherit his fortune.

I liked the tour of Chicago that this book takes us on. The places mentioned are all real and all sound intriguing. I liked how the kids all worked together once they realized that the scholarship deal was a scam.

This was a fun middle grade mystery/treasure hunt.

Wow, what a great book. The story is about three students that get chosen to participate in a scholarhip contest. The contest is simple, solved three riddles about Chicago. But what is really is going on? I just loved this book. It was well thougt out, fast paced and the trtivia about Chicgo was fascinating. This book should be nomiated for the BlueStem award (Illinois award for chaper books for ages 3rd to 5th grade).

Chicago is my favorite city to visit. Having visited and toured much of the Chicago it was really fun trying to figure out the clues in the story and I could imagine the places they were. The story is entertaining and moves along.

I received a copy of this ebook from NetGalley for my honest review.