A darkly humorous trilogy of children's books about the fall and rise of the downtrodden McNally family. The first book opens with young Fergal McNally falling to his death from a hotel window, setting the tone for the rest of the series.
The books in the trilogy are The Fall of Fergal, Heir of Mystery and Rise of the House of McNally
Tropes found in the Unlikely Exploits series:
- Ambiguously Human: Mr. Maggs is not quite human looking, with a round head, long thin limbs and a shark-like grin. He's an evolved descendant of humans from the distant future.
- Animorphism: Jackie can turn into a jackal.
- Brain in a Jar: Fergal's brain at the end of Book 1.
- Brain Transplant: Fergal's brain is eventually transplanted into a dog. Mr. Maggs's teddy bear has a brain in it as well
- Foregone Conclusion: The first books begins with Fergal falling to his death, then describes the events that lead up to that point. His death is in fact the end of the book.
- Lemony Narrator: The narrator tells the story in a quirky style reminiscent of A Series of Unfortunate Events
- Phenotype Stereotype: The Mcnallys are all pale-skinned Irish redheads with lots of freckles.
- Poke the Poodle: Mr. Maggs's evil manifesto includes moving the letter Q further back in the alphabet and changing the way Christmas trees are drawn. This is because his writing the manifesto came about after Le Fay from the future (whom he hadn't met prior to that point) told Maggs that he'd written one, and, realising what was going on, he decided to have fun with it.
- Promotion to Parent: Jackie, the oldest daughter, after their father's death.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Why Mr. Maggs came back from the future
- Superpowerful Genetics: The 5 McNally children all have various special powers.
