I read The Slippery Slope last night, and must say its one of the better books in the series. Any children's book in which the children quote Nietzsche as a source for moral guidance is a special thing. As the Series of Unfortunate Events begins to near a conclusion, this book draws together a lot of characters and mysteries from various previous books, and also offers a few solutions to some of the mysteries the Baudelaires have faced. But even as mysteries are solved, far more new mysteries emerge, and the despair found in the end of this book is the strongest yet, as we begin to dread the no-doubt-unfortunate conclusion to the series. And there is even a bit of romance. This is the first book in the series I had to wait for (having started reading the books right after book 9 came out), and it was well worth the wait.