Dark humor, violence, sadness, desperation...and this is actually a children's book! 
 And it is a brilliant book that I enjoy it each time I read it. 
 Three little children lose their parents (they found out about this in the first page!) and they end up with an extremely dangerous relative. 
 The children have to survive long enough to inherit their parents fortune. Nobody believes them when they say how miserable they are and how much in danger. Nobody cares. 
 A sad story from the children's point of view.... but with a dark clever humour that shoot straight at your heart. 
 The movie with Jim Carrey in the role of Count Olaf was almost equal to the book.