The Name of this Book is Secret, is the title of the first journey Pseudonymous Bosch decided to take his readers on. The author got extremely creative with his pen name, although he is believed but no confirmed to be Raphael Simon. The word pseudonymous means “writing under a fictitious name” and the last name Bosh is taken from a Dutch painter in the late 1400s. Bosch says that he wrote the book in a program in elementary school for a girl named May in a school “pen-pal” program where they wrote to kids in another grade at their school. If you’re around the ages of 8-12, this book is definitely a must read!

In the beginning, the author makes you solemnly swear not to tell a soul about the secrets you learn in this series. He makes you sign a contract too. Throughout the book, he makes “mistakes” by slipping up things he wasn’t supposed to tell. The author undoubtedly knows the secret, but isn’t going to tell, because he isn’t supposed to. He says he’s telling us the most he can without endangering our life or his own.
Our heroes in the story are Cassandra (Cass) and Max-Ernest. Cass is one of the quietest, loneliest people in her school. She is a survivalist and keeps a backpack of survival materials such as a flashlight or a tent with her at all times, even though in reality she has never been in a survival situation. Max-Ernest and a strange kid who likes to make a lot of useless corny jokes. Most people don’t like him and think he’s annoying, but he and Cass connect well.

Cass and Max-Ernest meet off to a quick start and become interested in what’s called “The Symphony of Smells”. Pietro Bergamo, the owner who was thought to be dead, left a secret message that spelled out “H-E-L-P”. Cass and Max-Ernest made it their duty to find out what Pietro needed help with and why. They went to his old house and snooped around in places they shouldn’t have been. They were interrupted by Gloria, the real estate agent, and had to hide. With her she had Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais, our story’s villains. The two claimed to be looking into buying the house, but oddly asked Gloria a numerous amount of strange questions about the previous owner. Gloria tried to ignore them but finally they admitted they wanted Pietro’s diary, which is exactly what Cass happened to be holding in her hand. Max-Ernest and Cass revealed themselves but ran out before they could be caught. They heard Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais cursing them and their lives and saying all of the terrible things they planned to do to the children once they caught them. Cass and Max-Ernest decided to read his journal, and they learned a lot about Pietro, that he had synesthesia which is confusion of the senses. He could see sounds and smell colors. They also learned that he had a twin brother with the same disorder, but they were separated when he was kidnapped at a young age, and he never saw his brother again. They got to a special part in the diary, where Pietro says, “The Secret is-”, and they rest of it was ripped out. Cass had a small feeling that the part that was ripped, was exactly what Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais were looking for.
The two decided them to give up on the case since they had no leads and we’re getting themselves into deeper trouble. But weeks later, Cass had seen her principle with Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais “touring” their school thinking about enrolling their “child” in there. Cass knew they were looking for her, and hid immediately. Before they left, they took a certain interest in a kid named Benjamin Blake, who Cass would later find out, also had synesthesia. Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais took a liking to him, but Cass ignored it and walked away. Minutes later, she saw him in the back of limousine with the words “The Midnight Sun Spa” on the side: Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais had kidnapped Benjamin. As a matter of fact, Cass researched and found out; a lot of children with synesthesia had gone missing over the years. Cass and Max-Ernest got into an argument about what to do, and quit being partners. Cass took it upon herself to find out what happened to Benjamin. She called the Midnight Sun Spa, made a reservation under a false name, and went there herself to save Benjamin. She at least told Max-Ernest where she was just in case. When she got there, she didn’t have much time to investigate, since she was going through “treatments” to “cleanse” her soul. Ms. Mauvais and Dr. L, the owners, didn’t even notice her! At her first night there, all of the guests joined together for dinner, because there would be a “Special Appearance”, who just happened to be Max-Ernest, willingly. He assured Cass that Ms. Mauvais was actually very nice and meant no harm. Cass feared that Max-Ernest had given the diary away, but he was saving that for later. Ms. Mauvais didn’t want to wait, she forced Max.-Ernest to hand it over immediately. She saw the missing pages, and accused Cass and Max-Ernest, and took them prisoner, saying that if they didn’ t tell her what the secret was, she’d do terrible things to them. What would happen to our helpless heroes? Will Max-Ernest and Cass get themselves out of this pickle? Or would their lives be taken by the hands of the evil Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais?
If you’re a fan of Lemony Snicket’s books, you might enjoy this one too. The great thing about this book is, if you don’t like the plotline, the writer’s keeps you suspicious and engraved the entire time, wanting to know the wretched secret that Pietro would not tell. The book kept my nose in it the entire time. I couldn’t go anywhere without it! If you began reading this book, just remember, the writer is putting himself on the line telling you the secret, so don’t tell…