In the first installment of what is sure to be a long and profitable series, the orphaned Cahill siblings (Amy, 14, and Dan, 11) suffer the loss of their grandmother and embark on a dangerous race to uncover the secrets of their powerful family.

This was a quick read designed to leave you hungry for more. Amy and Dan, along with their trusty, trilingual babysitter Nellie, travel to Philadelphia and Paris in pursuit of some unknown treasure. There are plenty of cliches here, along with a good dose of history, but it's fun stuff. It's like the Da Vinci Code with a bit of Amazing Race thrown in. There are the usual Harry-Potter-esque tropes too: a sorting of characters based on personality stereotypes (in this case, the four branches of the Cahill family), parentless children trying to figure out who their parents were and what their destinies are, and a Snape-ish character in William McIntyre (will he help Dan and Amy or is he a bad guy?).

You have to suspend a lot of disbelief to get into this, (for example, it's hard to believe that family members would really be so quick to try to kill each other, especially when so many of them are too young to even drive), but, again, pretty fun. ( )

DNF @ 52% - Just too unrealistic, even my kids (aged 11 & 9) lost interest in the plot. ( )

Good book for kids. Has suspense, action, history, and mystery. It's like a Dan Brown book for kids. It would be a great learning tool if it included more pictures and maps. ( )

This book reminded me a lot of some other series I've read recently—unrealistic, over-the-top action, characters that know everything they need to know to progress, and one can never be quite sure who to trust. And yet, I enjoyed it more than I feel like I should have. By the time I got to the end, I was invested. I don't normally enjoy a book where you can't trust anyone, because characters are betraying each other left and right, but I still couldn't help but start to trust a couple of the potentially treacherous side characters by the end. And now I want badly to know how it will turn out with those characters. I also can't help but want to know what the big prize is, even though I suspect it will either be ridiculous or a letdown.

I've heard of this series for a long time and considered reading the books years ago, but never have until now. I wonder if I might not have been ready for the style and tone of the book until now, since I've read a few other series with the same kind of wildly unlikely storylines—at least one of which I liked (Mr. Lemoncello's Library) and one of which I really didn't (Treasure Hunters). Now, I'm more able to let some of the things that might have bothered me in the past go and enjoy the story for what it is. I'm not sure how I'll like the change of authors throughout the series, but I'm definitely going to keep going. ( )

If I were a kid I think I would love this whole series. I wish it wasn't so thin for my adult brain 'cause I kinda want to know where the adventure goes, but the reading it too easy and my mind drifts too easily. ( )