The cover: IT LIED. It promised a cute and fun mystery with an adorable small boy main character. Not a bit. Mister Dodger is so sharp that one day his name will be known on every continent, possibly as the benefactor of mankind, but also quite possibly as the most charming scoundrel ever to be hanged!” Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, including his first Discworld novel, The Color of Magic, in 1983. In 1987, he turned to writing full time. In Dec. of 2007, Pratchett disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. On 18 Feb, 2009, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

I've read several of Pratchett's previous novels, including from the Discworld novels and his The Long Earth (with Stephen Baxter) and Good Omens (with Neil Gaiman). With Dodger, though, Pratchett proves his skill as a wordsmith and story-teller. Constantly colorful and always witty, Dodger is fun, inventive, and thoroughly enjoyable. I doubt there will be another volume in the story of Dodger, though I certainly wouldn't mind reading more about him, both before and after the incidents described in this book.

Despite the book's large size, the format is ideal for reluctant or newly confidant readers, the print large, well-spaced and liberally aided by the illustrations. This book was funny and fun. A lot of the humor was laugh out loud funny and a lot of the fun was in spotting the real folk amidst all the fictional characters.

It can also be viewed as an inspirational tale for children, which teaches them to, um, steal from the innocent for personal gain, vandalise the property of people who happen to be from the same country as one bad apple, and elope with a girl you hardly know - who happens to have lovely hair. And not to bother with school, or even basic literacy - because crime is so much more rewarding...

And yet, despite all of the above (and my disappointment in 'Snuff', for fairly similar reasons) I'll continue to buy any new Pratchett novel in the hope that it contains some of the old Discworld magic - moments of which, though few, were still present here. Which is probably what his publishers are banking on. So how do Dodger and Mister Charlie meet? The story begins dramatically enough, with a young lady being thrown from a carriage by two thugs. When Dodger witnesses this, all his protective instincts and indignation rise to the fore, and when the young lady appeals to him he takes on the pair singlehandedly. Two toffs arrive: Charlie and his friend Henry, and all three decide where to take the young lady, Dodger and Mister Charlie having agreed that Henry and his wife are the ones best placed to safeguard her life. They call the young lady “Simplicity”, and we learn she has lost her unborn child in this brutal episode, and later discover that she has escaped the torment of a loveless marriage to an unknown nobleman “from one of the Germanys”. She remains in mortal peril. I have to admit, however, that unlike Collins or Doyle at thier best, I never really felt if any of the central characters were in any danger in any way. This isn't due to the fact that the book is YA. I felt a sense of danger in the Tiffany books. Here, the plot seems incididental to the characters, at least to the eyes of this adult reader. Solomon had sighed theatrically, as if he had been put upon by the question, and then smiled and said, “Mmm, God said to me, ‘I understand, Solomon; let me know when you change your mind.” It is impossible for me to read a new Terry Pratchett independently of the memory of the last 30 years of reading each eagerly awaited book, one by one, with utmost delight.