Independence Hall is the first book in the IQ series by Roland Smith. The main protagonist is Q which is short for Quest, a thirteen year old boy whose mom just got remarried to Roger and is starting a tour with their new band Match. Q and his new stepsister Angela are along for the ride on their first tour with the first stop in Philadelphia. However, they both start noticing weird things happening when a random roadie named Boone is able to find their tour bus in the middle of nowhere. As they start to piece things together they discover that Boone may be an intelligence agent and that it may all have to deal with Angela’s mom, a secret service agent who died on the job several years prior. As always with a mystery, things are never what they seem and both Q and Angela have to quickly decide who they can and cannot trust as they try to figure out what to do next.
This was a good book, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t really think it was a great book. I say that mostly because it just didn’t draw me in the way other similar books have. It also feels like there is very little that is unique or original about this work as it feels really similar to a lot of other books. There were a few things that were new which helped make it interesting though. The concept of having a band tour in the background was unusual but it didn’t feel entirely unique. Other books have dealt with the idea of mystery solving children with traveling celebrities as parents. Only the music aspect seemed new. However, the talents and skills of the children were relatively new. Angela was the stereotypical child of a law enforcement officer so she had intelligence training and could spot a tail as well as rather extensive martial arts experience. It was Q that had the interesting and unusual skill set. I don’t typically see very many mystery books where the main character has training with magic tricks and as a stage magician so that really felt kind of new. The book did do a pretty decent job in regards to the plot line though as that felt well thought out and developed though certain elements did seem to be slightly overdone as I have seen them before. In fact, a lot of the elements used I have seen before though not necessarily in this combination. What stood out though was how well integrated the magic skills of Q were. That doesn’t necessarily seem like it would be a good skill for this kind of work but it fit in pretty seamlessly. Ultimately, this book was a good book but like I said not necessarily a great book. I am happy giving this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.
As you may have gathered this book is the first book in a kids mystery series. I think that this series would probably hold the most appeal to kids who enjoy that genre though I also know there may not be a lot of good series in that genre. It may also hold some appeal to kids in general as it was intended for that age range. More specifically, I think it would probably be best suited for readers between ten and fourteen based on this book. There wasn’t any content so far that would make it unsuitable for that age range. As always, older readers are welcome to try it if it sounds like something they would like but it will be a pretty easy read for them. I am planning to read the rest of the series so keep your eyes out for further reviews on this series. Remember, you are always welcome to share your thoughts in the comments.