Bound for England, fourteen-year-old photojournalist Ethan Sparks quickly realizes that his summer jobshooting candids on The Young Explorers Castles and Stonehenge touris not the gig that he thought it would be. A billionaire genius plans to relocate Stonehenge so he can possess it for himself, recruiting a brilliant young engineer named Russell to mastermind the airlift. When Russell agrees to join forces with Ethan, the boys concoct a Double Cross to prevent the heist. But can Ethan trust this new spypartner, who is also a member of the genius club? Its Ethans first trip without his dad, a famous archaeologist, or their bodyguard, Murphy, and it becomes the most dangerous mission of Ethans life. With the stakes this high, and possibly no backup even from Scotland Yard, will Ethan be the one who is double-crossed? Will one of the worlds most iconic monuments become one mans personal treasure?
Rooted deeply in Arthurian lore, The Chamber of Merlin explores the possibility that magic was drained from earth 1500 years ago by the wizard Merlin just moments before he was imprisoned by the evil enchantress spirit Niven. Now desperate to regain her physical form, Niven has cracked the seal of Merlin’s prison, allowing magic to bleed onto earth again. She plans to possess the body of a psychic and continue her search for the long lost city of Avalon where the source of magic is located. This magnificent blend of science fiction and fantasy brings the greatest wizard of them all into modern day society where he will wage the ultimate war between magic and technology.
The Ethan Sparks Adventure books are fun, engaging books for young readers. They are wild rides to some of the great sites of archaeology, such as the tomb of the first emperor of China and his terra-cotta soldiers. I hope the boys and girls who read them will be inspired to get involved in real-life archaeologymaybe even on my own digs! -- Dr. Gary Stickel "the real-life Indiana Jones"London Times Excavator at Achilleion (legendary birthplace of Achilles, hero of the Trojan War) Excavator at Machu Picchuthe "lost city of the Incas" Co-director of the Search for Odysseus' Palace Project Ethan Sparks is faced with the toughest mission of his fourteen-year-old life. His father, Dr. Sparks, a renowned archaeologist, and his loyal team have been kidnapped and face certain death because the ransom demanded for their release will never be met. The British Museum wont give up the Elgin Marbles; not even for the highly-respected archaeologist. This quagmire forces Ethan to assemble all of his spypartners from his previous five missions to assist him. With the addition of his best friend, Drew, Britton, the owner of Yangstrum Adventures, and two FBI AgentsTeam Eclipse is formed with one absolute focused objective: to rescue Dr. Sparks and his team! This vital mission takes the young Ops Agents on a chase through Peru, the rainforest in Machu Picchu, Brazil, Easter Island, and finally the Galapagos Islands. Its nonstop all the waya race against time and the threat of revenge and murder!
Shaeffer is an old-school heistman whose girlfriend just walked on him. You need an armored car taken or a football stadium's gate receipts lifted, you call Shaeffer and his buddies. But the world is fast moving to a cashless economy with people paying with Paypal or debit cards these days. Join an aging heistman as he tries to deal with an increasingly high tech society, feeling more and more left behind. In this opening book, Shaeffer finds an ATM route truck that actually carries CASH. With his best friend Grogan, they go through the planning, the job, and the aftermath, with Shaeffer trying to patch things up with his girlfriend in between
In another "suspenseful mystery romp with art appreciation" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Art and Camille head to London to find her estranged father, and soon find themselves embroiled in a heist involving a long-dead monarch. Packed with fascinating facts about real places and pieces of art, this fast-paced thriller is perfect for fans of the Spy School and Mr. Limoncello's Library series and Dan Brown. No matter how dangerous his adventures have been, Art has always been able to count on his best friend, Camille. Now that Camille is meeting her estranged father, Art wants to be there for her--which means going to London. But Camille's history professor father, renowned for expertise in British legend, is missing. When they visit his apartment, Art and Camille find a long-missing object that suggests the professor could be in trouble and solving a mystery related to London's history. Follow Art and Camille as they visit the Tower of London, National Portrait Gallery, and ride the "tube" in hopes of uncovering the truth before it's too late.
"Tells the story with the gripping pace of a true-crime 'Ocean's Eleven.'" The New York Post • "Like a diamond, this true-life caper is clear, colorful, and brilliant." Publishers Weekly ★Starred Review★ The Antwerp Diamond Center was one of the most secure buildings in the world. With hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of diamonds stored in its subterranean vault, it had to be. Located in the heart of Belgium's ultra-secure Antwerp Diamond District, it benefited from two police stations, armed patrols, extensive video surveillance, and vehicle barriers securing an area where 80 percent of the world's diamonds traded hands. But on February 15, 2003, a band of skilled Italian thieves — fronted by the charming Leonardo Notarbartolo, who spent over two years clandestinely casing the building — subverted every one of the Diamond Center's defenses and made off with a record amount of loot. Experts estimate they got away with nearly half a billion dollars in diamonds, cash and other valuables. They'd pulled off the biggest heist in history--everybody loves diamonds and they now had more than any thief before them. The robbers did it with stealth and smarts; no one was hurt or even threatened during what was quickly labeled the largest diamond heist in history. The bandits — members of a group of professional thieves known as "The School of Turin" — used cunning in lieu of violence, successfully evading security cameras, thwarting an array of electronic sensors, and penetrating a vault protected by a double-locked foot-thick steel door. Even when the police zeroed in on who committed the crime, how it was done remained a mystery, like something out of a heist movie or TV show. Flawless is a fast-paced global scavenger hunt uncovering the truth behind the daring Valentine's Day weekend heist. Tracking clues, sources, and documents throughout Europe — from seedy cafés in Turin, Italy to sleek diamond offices in Antwerp, Belgium — authors Scott Selby and Greg Campbell retrace Notarbartolo's careful discovery of the building's security flaws. They recreate the heist and its aftermath — detailing how the thieves brilliantly neutralized each element of the security protecting the Diamond Center's vault while inviting the readers into the secretive world of diamonds and diamond dealing. The result is a thrilling ride through the better-than-fiction heist of the century. "Fans of caper books and movies will be in seventh heaven." Booklist ★Starred Review★
The Great White North is revealed as the Great Weird North in this entertaining tome from the best-selling Bathroom Reader series. Did you know that Canada was almost called Hochelaga? That’s just one of thousands of wacky facts awaiting readers in Uncle John’s quirky celebration of Earth’s second largest country. You’ll find page after page of bizarre history (like why the beaver was once classified as a fish), plus head-scratching news items (like the crook who returned to the Tim Hortons he’d just robbed to tip the workers), odd places to go (like Mr. Spock’s birthplace in a town called Vulcan), and crazy eats (like the restaurant that makes you eat in complete darkness). So whether you live in Come By Chance, Joe Batt’s Arm, Starvation Cove, or anywhere else inside (or outside) of Canada, yukon count on Uncle John to deliver a world of weirdness from all over this great country. For example: - Cow-patty bingo in Alberta (Rule #1: Wear gloves) - How to enforce the new Quebec law that requires dogs to be bilingual - The sea of Molson Golden that once shut down an Ontario freeway - The mystery of the mini earthquakes in a New Brunswick town - Why it’s illegal to kill a sasquatch in British Columbia - The Nova Scotia company that makes mattresses for cows - Saskatchewan’s Willow Bunch Giant, a real man who could lift a horse over his head - The giant fiberglass “Happy Rock” statue in--where else?--Gladstone, Manitoba And much, much more!
LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE. One of Tor.com's Best Books of 2019. "Readers of this breakout work [will leave] thrilled and disoriented in equal measure." --Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal One of The Daily Beast's Best Summer Beach Reads of 2019, one of Lit Hub and The Millions's Most Anticipated Books of 2019, one of Buzzfeed and Tor.com's Books to Read This Spring, and one of the Chicago Review of Books' Best New Books of May A parallel universe. South Texas. A third border wall might be erected between the United States and Mexico, narcotics are legal and there’s a new contraband on the market: filtered animals—species of animals brought back from extinction to amuse the very wealthy. Esteban Bellacosa has lived in the border town of MacArthur long enough to know to keep quiet and avoid the dangerous syndicates who make their money through trafficking. But his simple life gets complicated after a swashbuckling journalist invites him to an underground dinner at which filtered animals are served. Bellacosa soon finds himself in the middle of an increasingly perilous and surreal journey, in the course of which he encounters legends of the long-disappeared Aranaña Indian tribe and their object of worship: the mysterious Trufflepig, said to possess strange powers. Written with infectious verve, bold imagination, and oddball humor, Fernando A. Flores’s Tears of the Trufflepig is an absurdist take on life along the border, an ode to the myths of Mexican culture, and an introduction to a staggeringly smart new voice in American fiction.
