The Reptile Room

The Reptile Room is a book written by Lemony Snicket (real name Daniel Handler) in 1999. It is the second book in A Series of Unfortunate Events. It is about three children whose parents die. They are placed in the care of Uncle Montgomery, but following them is a villain called Count Olaf who wants to steal their money.

The Reptile Room

Author	Lemony Snicket (pen name of Daniel Handler)
Illustrator	Brett Helquist
Cover artist	Brett Helquist
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	A Series of Unfortunate Events
Publisher	HarperCollins
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
ISBN	0-06-440767-5 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC	41086597
Preceded by	The Bad Beginning
Followed by	The Wide Window

Plot

Mr. Poe takes Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire to live with Montgomery Montgomery ("Uncle Monty"). He is a nice person and he works with snakes. He gives the children a bedroom each, and shows them the "Reptile Room.” Made of glass, it is filled with snakes and reptiles. At the end of the room is a library. The children are very happy living with Uncle Monty.

The children are going to Peru in a few days with Uncle Monty. One day, he says his assistant will be coming to replace his former assistant. His assistant Stephano is really Count Olaf in disguise: he has covered his ankle tattoo and shaved off his eyebrow. Count Olaf kills Uncle Monty.

Olaf wants to take the children to Peru, where he can steal their money easily. When he is taking the children to a ferry in his car, it crashes into Mr. Poe's car. The Baudelaires try to tell Mr. Poe that Stephano is Olaf, but he does not believe them. They go back to Monty's house and look at his body; there are two bite marks in his face. A doctor called "Lucafont" comes and tells them Montgomery died of snakebite, but Violet unlocks Olaf's luggage and finds evidence that Olaf killed Monty; he used the very venomous Mambu du Mal poison. She tells Mr. Poe but Olaf runs away.

Reception

Publishers Weekly said: "Luckily for fans"..." readers eager for more misfortune can turn to The Reptile Room, for an even more suspenseful tale". It has elegant "drawings of Gothic gargoyles and mischievous eyes" to illustrate the story.