First sentence: Denmark, Tennessee, stank. Bad. Like dead fish fricasseed in sewer water.

Premise/plot: The Prince family of Denmark, Tennessee, is rich and corrupt. Mostly. Horatio Wilkes, the narrator, is a school friend visiting Hamilton Prince for the summer. Their first stop? The family paper plant--Elsinore Paper Plant--the source of the stink in Denmark. This one is an adaptation of Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Those familiar with the original will notice similarities [and differences] right away.

[I don't know how familiar teens are with Hamlet these days. I would imagine it's still assigned reading in some places.] But those who are familiar will recognize how Gratz updates the memorable ghost scene which opens the play. A videotape reveals a startling image:

The man on the screen had snow white hair and a face like a walnut. He looked like he was a hundred years old, but it was Mr. Prince, sure enough. There was a sad, hollow look in his eyes that I knew but couldn't place.

The tape goes on...

Hamilton, if the boys show you this tape, it means something bad has happened. Something very bad. It means I've been murdered. . . It was poison . . .

Hamilton immediately suspects his uncle Claude. His new step-father. Horatio isn't as quick to jump to conclusions. He treats this situation like a true mystery. He decides to observe, listen, and wait patiently for the pieces to fall into place. Hamilton? Well, Hamilton just wants to yell, mope, drink, and be a miserable drain to everyone's mood.

All the familiar characters are there. I think the more familiar you are with the play--either through reading it or seeing it--the more you can appreciate it. However, I doubt that that is essential.

My thoughts: There were many things I enjoyed about this one, though I didn't love, love, love it. Still, I can see myself recommending this one to others. I know a few people who love Shakespeare, and this will definitely be something I mention to them.

This is a reread for me. I've pieced some of the original review (especially in the summary) while adding a few new sentences. I didn't know it when I read the first book back in November 2007, but I would go on to love, love, love, love the second book in the series which is an adaptation of Macbeth. I've always intended to reread both books. [I did not own a copy of the first book so I had to interlibrary loan it.]

I do wish the series had been enough of a success that more had been written. I don't know that the series failed OR if Alan Gratz just realized that he preferred writing amazing, awesome historical fiction instead of young adult mysteries. I DO love his historical books--especially those with a world war two setting. ( )

CW: Suicidal thoughts, murder of loved one through poisoning, illness through contaminated water

Well.

Alan Gratz offers up an interesting modern day mash up of old school detective and Shakespeare's Hamlet. Some of it works. Some of it doesn't. I couldn't quite get a feel for Horatio as a character at the beginning because he switched between smart arsed teenager, and savvy old detective. It wasn't jarring but it felt like Alan was still working out who Horatio was in the early stages of the novel. Luckily, by the end I had a reasonable sense of him and I assume his voice solidifies in book 2. I actually thought it was a pretty clever reimaging whilst staying true to the major plot points of Hamlet. I think this will be a valuable addition to the library. ( )

The character of Horatio Wilkes is the detective in this mystery by Alan Gratz. Something Rotten is about Horatio's friend, Hamilton Prince whose father has just died under suspicious circumstances. Hamilton suspects his step father who is also his uncle, and he asks Horatio to stay with him for the summer and investigate his father's death. Lots of red herrings make this an interesting mystery. My only complaint about the story was the fact that Heratio's character just seems too knowledgeable to be a teenager, but overall this is a satisfying mystery. ( )

Great fun! A modern retelling of Hamlet, as a noir-ish murder mystery. (And with a happier ending.) Our narrator is high school senior Horatio Wilkes (and there are fun injokes about his name), who is visiting his best friend Hamilton Prince (get it, yuk yuk), a rich playboy whose father died two months ago and whose uncle Claude quickly married Hamilton's grieving mother. Hamilton's received a videotape of his dad before he died, saying he's been murdered (I love this modern way of having a "ghost" speak from the dead!) and wants Horatio to help him find out who killed his dad. There's also the Ophelia-equivalent character, Olivia, who is Hamilton's ex-girlfriend and who wants to stop the Prince family factory ("Elsinore" tee hee) from spewing more poisons into the river. I love Gratz's Samurai Shortstop, and this one was also excellent; I hope it's the start of a series (doesn't have to be Shakespearean, I loved the smart alecky main character and his pop culture references).

reviewed in 2008 ( )

A retelling of Hamlet that can keep high school students attention. The author did a fairly good job of setting the original play in modern times. Don't expect a masterful work, realize it is meant for a teen audience, and you won't be disappointed. ( )