Just like last time I borrowed this from the library and procrastinated through two renewals before I actually got around to reading it.

Like last time, I have mixed feelings now I have read it.

First thoughts

I’m used to the cover art style now – though they still remind me of Stare Dad. This one has no shiny gold bits though.

There is a map again. I will quote exactly what I typed when I saw that map.

OMG IS THIS THE ACTUAL SMUGGLER’S TOP WITH THE MARSH DRAINED???

As Smuggler’s Top and Castaway Hill are both marked I think you’d have to assume so. I think my all caps comment show how excited I was about that. I may have mentioned before that Five Go To Smuggler’s Top is my favourite Enid Blyton book, and I’ve always wished that the Five would have gone back there for another adventure. I’ve always wondered if Quentin and Lenoir would manage to drain the marshes and what the area would be like.

I was, however, after that initial high, wary of whether the book would capture what I loved about the original.

I had to wait to find out as the book starts back at Kirrin where Maddie, Fran and Tom find Kirrin Cottage empty and George missing. Has she been whisked off to the catacombs of Castaway Hill or has she just gone out and forgotten to lock up, like the forgetful scientist she apparently is now?

George, Anne and Dick (sorry Ju)

The previous book introduced us to adult – very much older adult – George who is now a scientist like her father. At the end of that book we also saw Anne who is now a famous detective.

We meet Anne again here as she turns up at Kirrin. George, we discover via flashback, has been taken by Clay – her mysterious enemy from the first book.

Anne is then the main adult as she takes the children to Castaway Hill where Clay now owns Smuggler’s Top.

At this point I was seeing a pattern emerging but I didn’t follow it through far enough. I was thinking that we’d had a main book with George, and now we seemed to be getting one with Anne. I assumed the next two would each feature Julian and Dick. And then maybe a full reunion? I forgot about Anne being introduced near the end of the first book (in the very final chapters after the adventure is over.)

I was therefore a little surprised when Dick showed up amidst the drama of the final part of the adventure.

I wasn’t entirely sold on this adult George before, and I remain unsold now. She is at least fairly consistent between the two books. She is also still gung-ho about leaping into adventures without looking which is accurate.

Anne I’m also not sure of. While I know that people change as they grow up and don’t have to stick to what they liked as children I find it hard to take Anne – famous detective and martial arts expert – that seriously as the same person who loved nothing more than playing house. She was brave but she was never leading the way when it came to adventuring or snooping.

Likewise, Dick turning up with his own boat and wearing a captain’s hat just seems off. He has a walking stick, a big beard and a bag leg, which make him seem a lot older than the year he has on Anne. He did love George’s rowing boat but him as a stereotypical sea captain? Nope.

The story

Like the first book there is a section which is about the original Famous Five, though this seemed a lot shorter and less fleshed out.

After the events of Five Go to Smuggler’s Top the Five stayed at the house while Quentin and Lenoir discussed their marsh-draining scheme. They decide to have another explore of the catacombs and – with incredible ease, aided only by a ball of string, walk directly to a large cave where they find a smuggler’s lair, and a secret journal. The journal says that:

The key, the map, the Smuggler’s code
Lies behind the tempest

The Five assume this means the painting of a ship at Smuggler’s Top but are unable to figure it out.

Ugh – the Five were never foiled once! I actually found this pretty annoying.

Anyway, with George believed to be being held at Smuggler’s Top, Anne and the kids arrive in Castaway and stay with Marybelle who now owns an inn. They’d like to find the map as well as George. They break into the house and are caught, but the children escape with the painting.

Anne gets put in with George, to which I wrote:

Lock Anne up with George? That’s a terrible idea. They may only be 2/5ths of the Five but…

I was right and they escape.

The story then turns more towards Indiana Jones or James Bond with a mad journey down an underground railway, a collapsing pyramid of barrels, a fight on a forklift which is careering (as much as a forklift can career, I suppose) towards the edge of the dock, and a yacht/speedboat chase.

Phew! Obviously it all ends well and the New Famous Five (as they just KEEP referring to themself as) solve both the mystery of the tempest and prevent Clay escaping.

I have been checking my review of the first book to refresh my memory and I’m glad to see I split that into two parts. That means I can do the same here!