The 39 Clues 11 – Vespers Rising

Vespers Rising, by Rick Riordan with Peter Lerangis, Gordon Korman and Jude Watson, is a 39 Clues adventure for 9 year olds that goes right back to where the Cahill family secret began.

What happens

It opens in Ireland in 1507. The plague is killing villagers every week, and Gideon Cahill is an alchemist hunting for a cure.

What he's found instead is a serum. It's made him stronger, quicker and cleverer than any man should be. His grand neighbour, Lord Damien Vesper, has heard about it from a spy in Gideon's own kitchen.

Damien doesn't want a cure. He wants an army.

The very first scene tells you what kind of man he is. He drops a stone ceiling on Gideon just to test a theory (Gideon dodges it, which proves the theory). Then the two old friends are at each other's throats, quite literally.

From there it's a race against the clock. Gideon splits his research into pieces and hides them with his four children. Each one is very different. Luke creeps about where he shouldn't. Thomas is strong enough to carry the dinner table on his own. Katherine takes everything apart to see how it works. And ten-year-old Jane paints on anything that stays still.

You'll feel the tension build as night falls and Gideon realises he may not see his family again. It reads like a thriller, with traps, spies and a clock ticking down to an explosion.

The villain here is truly cruel, so it's worth a word before bedtime reading. Damien threatens Gideon's wife and children, keeps a servant's husband locked in his dungeon, and says out loud that life is cheap. Gideon also knows the serum is making him ill. It's darker than a lot of books at this age. A reader who loves a proper baddie will be gripped.

If your reader already knows Amy and Dan's hunt, they'll enjoy seeing how the whole thing started. (Ever wondered why it's thirty-nine? This is where the number comes from!)

What to read next

If they haven't started the hunt yet, Maze of Bones is where Amy and Dan get pulled in, at their grandmother Grace's funeral.