Martin, the hero of 'The Devil's Doorbell' and first of the Five, discovers the existance of a second gate into the place where the Old Ones, evil prehistoric beings, were imprisoned by the Five in a previous incarnation. He must follow the clue found in the home of a murdered antiquitarian to Peru, where the second gate waits. In Peru he teams up with the last of the Incas and the second of the Five, Pedro, in a desperate attempt to prevent their modern disciples from opening the gate and returning the Old ones to earth! Although the plot is fairly standard, the story flows well and there is plenty of action. The ending has an unusual twist that is not fully revealed until the third book in the series.

I found this book disapointing. [Of course, its pretty pathetic that I'm reading children's books to begin with, but thats another matter.] Anyway, I think that the author exploited the Elizabethan setting, exagerating some aspects to the point of caraciture, but presenting nothing truely horrifying. It seemed so unhistorical, I was suprised to find out how much of the story the author "based on fact." He treated the themes of morality and honesty very lightly; the character Molly was a thief out of necesity, but the real hero unrealisticly and sanctimoniously refused to turn to crime. And the ending was predictable.
Read Susan Cooper's King of Shadows instead.

This Book is terrific. It is a thrilling and advenurous story. I have never read a better book. It is about a boy who wants to be in a play but his parents are dreadfully mean and wont let him.His real parents are the King and Queen of england but noone but the queen knows. He sneaks away from his Guardians and gets tied up with the most sinister and pulverizing murders in all of London. This is deafinatly a great book and once you start reading this book you won't be able to stop reading. It will keep you asking for more. I really liked this book, and I hope u do to.

After such great children's books as 'Granny', 'Groosham Grange' and 'The Switch', Anthony Horowitz has now turned to the Elizabethan age for his latest work. Packed full of wonderful description of the period, which he obviously researched superbly, this book will transform any child's perception of what they may have thought of as a boring period in history. It brings the time and the characters of the time (including Queen Elizabeth herself and Shakespeare!) to life and makes them seem fun and interesting in much the same way as 'Shakespeare in Love' did at the cinemas recently. The characters are brilliantly depicted and children will identify with both Tom and Moll as well as laugh at some of the great villains and revolting adults that Horowitz is so good at creating. I have recently read the story to my Year 6 class (11 year olds) and I could not get them to go home! They always wanted me to read on and adored every minute of it. Probably Horowitz's best book yet - many of the children certainly thought so. Extremely well written and reminiscent of Dickens at times. We successfully turned the story into a play, which we performed at school at the end of July 1999 - it made a wonderful play too! Someone should make a film of this book! Horowitz is truly the master of children's fiction today.

Also recommended: Other Horowitz classics - 'Granny' 'Groosham Grange' 'The Unholy Grail' 'The Switch' 'The Falcon's Malteser' 'South by SouthEast' 'Public Enemy Number Two'

I liked this book, but I would not buy it. If you would like to read it, get it at the Library. Don't waiste your money. The best two stories are the ones by Steven King (The MASTER!) and the one about the spider.