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The Penultimate Peril

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Cover artist
  
Brett Helquist

Language
  
English

Publication date
  
October 18, 2005

Author
  
Daniel Handler

Illustrator
  
Brett Helquist


Country
  
United States

Publisher
  
HarperCollins

Originally published
  
18 October 2005

Page count
  
353

ThePenultimatePeril.JPG
Media type
  
Print (hardback & paperback)

Characters
  
Count Olaf, Violet Baudelaire, Klaus Baudelaire

Genres
  
Gothic fiction, Absurdist fiction, Steampunk, Mystery

Similar
  
Daniel Handler books, A Series of Unfortunate Events books, Novels

The penultimate peril book number 12 lemony snicket brycen d


The Penultimate Peril is the twelfth novel in the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.

Contents

Plot

The Baudelaire orphans, Violet, Klaus and Sunny are travelling with pregnant V.F.D member Kit Snicket to Hotel Denouement, the last safe place for volunteers to gather. She tells them that, prior to V.F.D's gathering in two days, they will be disguised as concierges to observe the mysterious 'J.S', in order to identify him or her as a volunteer or a villain of V.F.D. The hotel's managers are identical twins Frank and Ernest - Frank is a volunteer, while Ernest is on the opposing side as a villain.

During their first day of disguised employment, the Baudelaires split up to assist the hotel's guests - Violet assists Esmé Squalor and Carmelita Spats by bringing them a harpoon gun, Klaus assists Charles and Sir (the owners of the Lucky Smells Lumbermill) by escorting them to the sauna while also hanging flypaper outside a window for one of the managers, and Sunny assists Hal (an employee at Heimlich Hospital), Principal Nero, Ms. Bass and Mr. Remora (teachers at Prufrock Preparatory School) while locking a V.F.D device onto a door of the laundry room, converting it into a Vernacularly Fastened Door - all the guests discuss the mysterious J.S.

Klaus concludes that Carmelita Spats requested the harpoon gun to shoot down a bird carrying the sugar bowl, as Sunny mentioned that Hal and a manager were discussing the sugar bowl (an object both volunteers and villains are seeking for unknown reasons) and the Medusoid Mycelium (a deadly fungus parasite they encounter in the previous book) - the flypaper would retrieve the bird's body, and the sugar bowl would fall into the laundry room, in which the room's door was converted into a Vernacularly Fastened Door.

Shortly after his proposal, a man encounters them and reveals himself as Dewey Denouement, the third of the secretly three brothers. He also tells them that a pool reflection of the hotel is the actual safe place, as the hotel's words and structure were designed backwards to reflect the actual words onto the pool - beneath the pool is an underwater catalog containing crucial information concerning V.F.D. They are then encountered by Jerome Squalor and Justice Strauss, who have joined V.F.D after believing messages being sent to J.S was being addressed to them.

While the four re-enter the hotel, Count Olaf intercepts them, and threatens Dewey with a harpoon gun for the code needed to access the Vernacularly Fastened Door - while the children attempt to prevent the killing, Mr. Poe suddenly enters, causing Olaf to shove the weapon into the Baudelaires' hands - surprised, they drop the gun, initializing its trigger to pull and kill Dewey. As a crowd arrives, the Baudelaires and Olaf are sent to court - however, everyone except for the judges must be blindfolded for it to be legal. During the hearing, however, the Baudelaires realize that it was a trick for Olaf to kidnap Justice Strauss, pursue the sugar bowl, and burn the hotel and its inhabitants. Klaus, realizing that the sugar bowl was actually underneath the pool, reveals the door code to Olaf. Violet gains access to a boat for all of them to escape the authorities, while Sunny assists in burning the hotel as a signal to V.F.D that the gathering has been canceled due to the invasion of enemies. The Baudelaires, along with Justice Strauss, attempt to alert everyone about the fire - it is unknown whether anyone escapes.

Shortly after the authorities arrive, the the orphans, along with Olaf, are about to disembark via the sea - however, Justice attempts to intervene. Sunny apogetically bites her hand, and the four sail away from the area.

Foreshadowing

  • On the last picture, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are with Count Olaf sailing at sea foreshadowing The End.
  • Translations

  • Finnish: "Ratkaisun rajoilla" (At the Borders of Solution), WSOY, 2006, ISBN 951-0-32089-7
  • Russian: "Предпоследняя передряга" (Penultimate Scrape), Azbuka, 2007, ISBN 5-352-02021-5
  • Persian: خطر ما قبل اخر"' (The Penultimate Risk)
  • Japanese: "終わりから二番目の危機" (The Second-to-Last Crisis), Soshisha, 2007, ISBN 978-4-7942-1623-6
  • Dutch: "Het voorlaaste gevaar" (The Penultimate Danger)
  • French: "Le Pénultième Péril" (The Penultimate Peril)
  • Polish : "Przedostatnia pułapka" (The Penultimate Trap)
  • Adaptation

    The book will be adapted into the fifth and sixth episodes of the third season of the television series adaptation produced by Netflix.

    References

    The Penultimate Peril Wikipedia