To finish one book in an afternoon might be unfortunate. To finish a second one smacks of carelessness. Concern for the fates of the Baudelaire children, despite reassurances from the author that there is nothing good to be expected, compels one, however, and this time they are almost happy, for a while, until the reliably dreadful Count Olaf arrives to make sure the events continue unfortunate.

Finishing the third book in the same afternoon might be viewed by some as taking the mickey just a bit, but suddenly mine eyes have been opened to the addictive qualities of the narrative recounting the misfortunes of the Baudelaire children, as another unfortunate relative in another odd location attempts to provide, in their own unique way, a stable and loving environment, and fail to see the approaching calamity that is Count Olaf, despite repeated strenuous warnings from the children. Both piquant and hilarious, somehow, nonetheless, I suspect I shan't finish a fourth volume tonight. That'd be a bit much. Tomorrow, then?

Look, I don't have a problem.

The Baudelaire's series horribilus enters its child-labour stage as the children are placed in the none-too-caring hands of a mill-owner who expects them to work stupidly hard in return for his questionable protection. Dangerous machines, deplorable health and safety, oppression of the working class through the wage stagnation, hypnosis and advanced lumber techniques all feature in this entertaining tale of children being treated dreadfully.

I can stop any time I want.

Pedagogy is the subject of this dour volume, hi-jinks and japes and jolly hockey-sticks are all elements you will find in boarding school tales that are not this one. The educational values displayed within are questionable to say the least, but the Baudelaire children have to brief consolation of making actual friends with the surviving pair of Quagmire triplets. Naturally and inecitably, this ultimately leads to unhappiness all round.

YOU'RE THE ONE WITH THE PROBLEM.

By now the children are all too familiar with their own predicament and the recurring fictional conventions that are turning their life into a hideous joke, but as yet they are powerless against it. Another new dwelling, another new guardian, or set of guardians, a mixture of venal and well-meaning in this instance, and it's only a matter of time before you-know-who shows up and starts some incomprehensible plot mechanism turning. In this episode the stakes are even higher - it's not enough to foil Olaf's plans to take their fortune, they must also find, if they can, and rescue the Quagmire triplets. Bigger mysteries are beginning to emerge as well - not just the mysterious VFD, but other hints as well of larger, darker secrets.

DON'T TELL ME HOW TO LIVE MY LIFE.

The VFD village with the VFD crows beckons the Baudelaire children. Does it hold the answers they seek? Will they find the Quagmire Triplets? Who is leaving cryptic clues under the Nevermore Tree? Has Count Olaf finally been captured? If that's not Count Olaf then who is it? You don't need me to go telling you at this stage that the chances of the answers to some or any or all of these questions leading to good times and happiness all round are a bit slim. Some of them do get answered, though, and some of the answers lead to more questions. We only have ourselves to blame, you know. It isn't as if he doesn't keep telling us how it's going to work out. Badly.

Just one more, okay? Just one more, then I'll stop.

Hospitals are hostile, it's true. Invariably when you are in a hospital you are being poked and prodded and tested and measured and sometimes they even knock you unconscious and cut you open or slice bits of you off and when you wake up you are in terrible pain and they don't let you eat for days. So a hospital seems like exactly the sort of place you'd expect to find the Baudelaires, sneaking around behind balloons with smiley faces, listening to Olaf's voices over the intercom, sorting through anagrams with alphabet soup and being obliged to cut Violet's head off with a rusty knife in front of an eager audience. Oh, come on, now, you know perfectly well you'd be disappointed if it were any other way. Monster.

I mugged an old lady to get enough money to buy this.

Carnivals, unlike hospitals, are such jolly, happy places, filled with light and wonder and laughter. I've honestly no idea why the Baudelaires would end up in such a place or what they'd end up doing with themselves. Nonetheless, here they are, disguised as freaks, being cruelly mocked and taunted and humiliated by the crowds, and getting very worried about those lions Count Olaf brought and put in a pit and promised to publicly feed a freak to, while a picture of humanity emerges so grim and cruel and bestial that it would not be out of place in the pages of The Day Of The Locust or The Lottery. So the book really does manage to overcome the obstacle of being set in such a happy place! Phew!

Look, don't judge me, but in order to fund my habit, I've been dealing Snicket to other addicts. It's just until I get my head together and my feet under me, y'know?

A whole lot of moral quandaries plague our heroes in this installment, as Violet and Klaus contemplate whether it is justified to fight fire with fire when the people you're setting on fire are truly horrible and have kidnapped your sister. Hence the clever name. The Slippery Slope. because it's a slippery slope when you start doing bad things for good reasons. Get it? I thought it was clever anyway. Terrible mountains, ruined headquarters, snow scouts, cakesniffers, salmon, cookery, tired eagles and a few villains who scare even Olaf. We've left the repetitive, formulaic early adventures well behind but many familiar elements are still in play, while mysteries abound and misfortune is always just a paragraph or two ahead.

Ok, look, I'm sorry I cut my product with cheap rip-offs turned out by low-wage workers in Offaly, A Sequence Of Unlucky Happenings by Orangey Snippet. Please stop trying to kill me.

Submarines and mushrooms, not what I was expecting, but we've left the early days of doomed guardians well behind. We're still pursued by Olaf and Co, who, no matter how often they are foiled and the orphans survive, still seem to triumph and revel in their wickedness, bouncing back with more terrible schemes and more suffering to inflict. Even the noble people the Baudelaires find themselves in league with seem to wither and fail and let them down under the onslaught. One could almost say there's a theme developing here: I wonder what it could be?