Voigt, Cynthia

Having finally located his missing parents in Mister Max: The Book of Secrets (rev. 11/14), self-styled “solutioneer” Max Starling devises a plan to rescue them from the military general who forcibly installed them as King and Queen of Andesia. Max’s friend Ari, the next Baron Barthold, will head a diplomatic envoy to Andesia, where Max, acting as his secretary, will come up with a further scheme. But even after the would-be diplomatic party travels all the way to South America, there’s a snag: Max’s father won’t go along with the rescue plan. Once again Max models creative thinking for readers, but in this volume his thespian skills become more salient—not only his talent for disguise, but also his ability to take cues from his actor father and improvise a scene. The setting shift from Queensbridge to a (made-up) South American country is handled without a ripple; Bruno’s neat and lively line drawings convey the team’s determination while giving a turn-of-the-twentieth-century vibe; and Voigt brings off the final act in this trilogy with consummate ease