I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: BIZ MARKEE-“Pancakes and Syrup” (2012).

Never really sure what to make of Biz Markee, it is nevertheless very hard to resist this anthem to a delicious breakfast.

Biz has one verse (the last two lines rhyme tummy with yum yum yum yum yum yum yummy) with some actual lyrics (I like that he rhymed syrup with Europe).  And another verse which is basically him saying “eat em up” and “yummy” over and over.

But the real sell (as if that wasn’t enough) is the super catchy, utterly fun-to-sing-along-to chorus “Pancakes and Syrup…It’s breakfast time!”

You have to be pretty curmudgeonly to dislike this son , especially since it is only a minute and 16 seconds long.  Although I’m not sure why he seems so mad at the end….

[READ: May 6, 2014] A King’s Ransom

As I said, I was totally hooked by Book 1 of this new series and I started book two before the first one was even cold. I had to know what was going on!

Because the new task for Dan and Amy Cahill is to steal an ancient map that no one has seen for generations.  And there’s no clue as to where it might even be.  And if they don’t find it ion four days one of their kidnapped relatives will be killed.  Not to mention, they are being followed by Interpol and they have alienated Dan’s only friend.  And as the story starts, they learn that one of the new enemies that they knew about (Caspar Wyoming) has a twin sister, Cheyenne.  And she spends the first few chapters of the book spying on them.

It turns out that Cheyenne has been promoted to V-6 in the Vesper hierarchy (her brother was V-6 but he was dropped down and he is super angry that she overtook him).  And with Caspar angry at the Cahills and at V-1, who know just what he’ll do.

So Dan and Amy are on their way to Lucerne, Switzerland to find the de Virga World map which was created in 1411.  Their lead is an auction house where it was last seen–over fifty years ago.  This search leads to a history of Nazis and a woman (who turns out to be related to someone on their team) who fought the Nazis in her own way.  The auction house is a funny, chaotic scene–especially when a fax from Interpol comes in and shows their passport pictures.

I enjoyed this book too because Jonah Wizard and Hamilton Holt are together on a mission and they make a funny odd couple team.  Especially when they pick up a hitchhiker (which you KNOW is trouble because she doesn’t even recognize Jonah–which should be suspicious immediately).

As the story reaches its climax Dan and Amy are reintroduced to Caspar (who they presumed was dead).  And as I said, he is super mad.

The final act of the book takes them to Czechoslovakia and to a cathedral that is made of human bones (The Sedlec Ossuary).  And while they are searching around, they discover an ancient Vesper stronghold.  And that’s when Dan sees the initials A.J.T., his father’s initials.  What could that mean?  Was his father a Vesper?  Amy is dismissive saying those initials could belong to anyone, but Dan is convinced in his gut that his father was a Vesper.

Dan and Amy catch up with Atticus and Jake again. They had been planning to use Atticus’ father’s name to get them into the library which (they believe) housed the map.  Jake is super angry that they used his father’s name, but Attiucs is starting to remember something his mother told him on her deathbed, something about staying cl0se to Dan because Atticus was a guardian of something.  As Atticus reveals this, they start to see that Atticus is really there to help them.  And that’s when they are all nearly killed.

Things work out (there wouldn’t be a story otherwise), but just as the book is drawing to an end, and they are ready to make their drop off, Atticus is kidnapped and V-1 reveals that it is because they were keeping a secret from him.  The story ends with a final message from AJT.  What could it mean?