Day of doom by David Baldacci

272 pgs.

Target audience: Middle Reader

Rating: Wizard

 

The Vesper and Cahill families are at it again and with Baldacci at the helm of the last volume, the pulse pounding pressure may be to much for Dan and Amy Cahill to overcome. Seven Cahill hostages have been taken by Vesper One with the promise of their release in return for retrieving a series of bizarre ransoms. Once the Cahills find the last clue they realize that the Vesper’s plan is more diabolical and heinous than they had originally thought and could destroy millions of people. The race against time splits the group into two directions. One to find the hostages in the Cascade Mountains and Dan and Amy to D.C. to head off Isabella, suspected to be Vesper Two and finally meeting up under the Rocky Mountains for the hair-raising standoff between good and evil .The squabbling for control within the Vesper camp and the strained loyalties among the Cahills creates an emotional frenzy making the book hard to put down. It’s up to the few remaining Cahills to decipher the clues, solve the puzzle, find their missing friends and save the world. The author injects a healthy dose of history, geography and geology into the storyline. The “39 Clues” series is akin to a kid’s version of the classic movie, “It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world,” and will have readers glued to the page right up until the exciting conclusion.  (This book provided for review by Children's Lit - www.childrenslit.com).