A review by shanbear16
The Amazing Adventures of John Smith, Jr. Aka Houdini by Peter Johnson

2.0

The best part about this book for me was the Providence setting. However, that's not enough to really get me into this book. It read a lot like young adult fiction from the 80s does. It's slice of life with no real plot to it. Even the premise of the book, which is that John Smith AKA Houdini wants to be a writer so he's writing what he knows doesn't seem to carry through the entire book. The story he does tell isn't that compelling to me although I can see how this book can be used to address having a family member at war and having them come back changed. Overall it just felt aimless and plotless.