Conclusion to the Apothecary trilogy. Benjamin Burrows is living with the Scott family, but is wracked with guilt over his role in his father's death and seeks a way to contact his father in the after-room. Meanwhile, halfway around the world, a grieving father has stolen nuclear material and intends to get even with China for his son's death by detonating a bomb there. Jin Lo joins an American spy to stop the madness. Meloy's strong anti-nuke message is clear. ( )

In the third and final volume of the Apothecary series, Benjamin is suffering crushing guilt after the potion he created to save the lives of his friends has a side-effect of killing his father. But he has discovered that even though his father is dead in this world, he's not gone completely. His ghost is in a place Benjamin calls "the After-Room." A place where Benjamin can contact him, albeit not very safely.
Before you know it, Janie and Benjamin are dealing with ghosts on the loose in Rome, Jin Lo is chasing a crazed Navy Commander who has stolen a nuclear bomb, Danby is back, with a bunch of stolen uranium, and also thrown into the mix are Janie's parents making a movie in Rome, Count Villi assisting the kids, Pip turns up to help, an Italian mobster gets involved with things, as do a gang of Chinese pirates and the ghost of poet John Keats. It's the same adventurous, magical, espionage filled, plot heavy adventure we got in the first two books.
I did think the effort to provide a happy ending for everyone... when there are so many characters to be a part of "everyone," got a bit hokey and monotonous towards the end, but it was still great fun getting there. I would recommend the whole series to those who like adventure tales, and don't mind a dose of well orchestrated magic in the mix. ( )

This, I think, is my favorite of the series. So nice to see Benjamin and Janie mature. A great adventurous wrap-up to this exciting series. ( )