Eddie & The Lizard Man by Stefan Liner and Robin Liner, Illustrated by Josef Liner is a wonderful mystery about a man with a very active imagination. However, while his imagination may get the best of him at times, he also may be closer to the truth that he originally expected!

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from one of the authors in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.

This is another review that I just have to begin by discussing the cover! How cool is that artwork first of all, but second, did you see the characters in each of the letters of Eddie’s name?! I love that feature! This cover certainly draws me in!

When beginning the book, I was thrilled to see that there is an illustration of a map displaying the town. I love when maps are included to really get a feel for the setting overall right off the bat.

Each chapter begins with a wonderful illustration. I always love when illustrations are scattered throughout a story! In this case with the tale being written for middle grade, I think this is an extra special feature as it helps to keep readers engaged as it continues to spark their imagination.

The story centers around Eddie Billings, an overly-curious conspiracy theorist, who never goes anywhere without his pen and a notepad with a cover that reads, My Particularly Interesting Findings.

Eddie has a job working at an antique shop that is owned by Kevin Kennedy. In this shop, he has been finding shed snake skins, but is curious because he hasn’t yet seen an actual snake. When he begins to suspect that his boss is a lizard-man and that the skins he is finding is actually from a lizard, Eddie decides to follow his boss after work. But what is his boss up to, and will Eddie get caught?

This story was so much fun to follow along. Younger readers will absolutely love the main character and his wild imagination. They will also love the mystery surrounding the boss who definitely comes across as the bad guy of the story.

Like all good mysteries, there is some sleuthing involved in which Eddie winds up in a tough spot.

I LOVED that the narrator broke in and spoke directly to the reader from time to time. This is an element that I will never get sick of seeing when it’s done in a way that keeps things interesting! My favorite example from this book is when the narrator breaks in to explain that Dog is a friend not a pet, and that Dog and Eddie have a type of communication that only they can understand. The narrator mentions that they do not have the ability to understand Dog’s accent as, “it’s simply too strong.” And, “Therefore, I cannot offer an accurate translation.” This had me cracking up!

While this one has been categorized as middle grade, I would recommend it for readers at the tail end of that age group/reading comfort level as the vocabulary here doesn’t shy away from using words that may need to be looked up. For example; countenance, compounded, bolstered, bravado, congenial, apprehension, domineering, inquisitively, vexed, and others. That being said, I think this is wonderful as the reader can also learn while enjoying a great mystery!

My Favorite Passages
So, you see the problem? They both saw five minutes in completely different ways, and anytime two people see the same thing differently, it usually means that something interesting is about to happen. And something interesting was about to happen.

For many people it is not what they can see that scares them most. Rather, it is what they can’t see. The unknown. It’s the thought of what could be lurking in the shadows or just around the corner that really frightens them.

Dog moaned again. It was the kind of moan a dog gives when he believes his friend is about to do something very foolish. Yes, it was with that kind of moan that Dog laid his head down on his paws and decided the best recourse was to take a nap.

Eddie looked thoughtfully at the shut door. It seemed to be challenging him. Daring him. Then he let out a long, breathy sigh. The kind of sigh that someone lets out when resolving to do something truly great; like committing to train for a marathon, or asking someone to marry them, or in this case, following a suspected lizard man into a scary building. The kind of sigh that says, this might be terribly frightening, but if I don’t do it, no one will. Yes, it was with that kind of sigh that Eddie mustered all of his courage and approached the door.

The man was terrifying. And since Eddie was still in the middle of remembering how to breathe, trying to answer the man’s questions with words was proving difficult.

My Final Thoughts
This is an all round wonderful read! I saw on Goodreads that this is tagged as book one. If you have a middle grade reader in your home, this is definitely a book/series to keep an eye on!