THE WORST NIGHT EVER

Wyatt Palmer returns for another adventure.

A few months have gone by since Wyatt, Matt, and Suzana saved the president of the United States (The Worst Class Trip Ever, 2015), and now the trio is settling in at their new high school. Suzana strikes up a friendship with the Bevin brothers, the star athlete hunks who rule the school; unfortunately, Matt and Wyatt end up on their bad side. When the Bevins steal Matt's pet ferret, Frank, the boys plot to break into the Bevins’ mansion and get him back. What they discover there throws the rest of the novel into a mystery that is often funny but rarely interesting, dangerous illegal animals and development politics being a comedown from the international terrorists in the previous novel. The adult characters are still flat, and there's still an annoying "this is how it all worked out" chapter at the novel's end, but fans of the first book will have few complaints. The teen characters remain smart and engaging and funny, and while the mystery's elements might be tame, the mechanics and structure are solid enough. Wyatt’s presumably white, but many of his classmates, including Matt and Suzana, are Latino; his poking fun at his teacher’s West Indian accent sounds an off note.

An inferior sequel whose only real crime is not meeting the highs of its predecessor.