Secrets of the Seven: The Eureka Key review

Somewhere between the written version of National Treasure, The Game, Goonies and Sherlock lies Secrets of the Seven: The Eureka Key. This book is intended for middle school, each chapter is about 12 pages long and it’s the best ‘children’s’ book we’ve read this year.  It manages to take the nuggets that we loved in similar books and combines them into a full-fledged multi arc story that will run through seven books.

From the first chapter we’re introduced to Sam, a very smart middle school student who often pulls pranks or tempts luck instead of fully concentrating at school. His puzzle solving abilities have earned him a spot in The American Dream Contest that he casually entered a couple of months ago. The contest will take him across the country where he and the other winners will solve puzzles and see the sights. To his surprise the other winner is just one girl, Martina who excels at everything Sam does except for street smarts. The group is rounded out with Theo, a physically larger teen who doesn’t talk too much.

By the time the third chapter starts the group is on a private airplane headed on their summer long adventure.  Shortly into the flight it becomes evident that things are not as they seem and that there is greater danger that’s not being passed along to the teen winners.

After that chapter Secrets of the Seven is puzzle oriented action that’s perfect for middle school ages and up. There are genuine twists and turns that misdirect the reader-only to lead them on a different story that’s better than the one they thought they’d be in. Our puzzle solvers are on a trip and they did honestly win the contest; but the identities of the other and the ones chasing them lend the book a true history bent that will additionally hook readers.

There are little nuggets of historical figures, factual events and current paranoia to make The Eureka Key read more like non-fiction than middle age fun reading. For the record, the book is fun, fiction and moves at a breakneck pace that does everything but adhere the reader’s fingers to the pages in order to make them continue reading.  Secrets of the Seven is one of those books that you don’t want to end, but when it does you want the author to stop their vacation plans and get to work post haste on the next chapter.  Adult readers will certainly identify aspects of the book with The Goonies, but then you’re not sure what’s real or fake, so now it’s like The Game, the true history of National Treasure and the witty banter and puzzles that you’ll see in Sherlock.

The Eureka Key is that good. It’s a book that readers that are more adept in pop culture will know the references, but they’re presented in a way that makes the book its own creation.

I am not from the camp that says books (or movies) need to come to the table as a franchise.  As a reader and a fan of quality entertainment I’d much rather have one entity that utterly fulfills, then to have a couple books (or movies) that are half baked. Secrets of the Seven: The Eureka Key by Sarah L. Thomson enters the arena as having set up a series of books, but leaves readers on the edge of their seats waiting for the next one. There’s also a website on the location where the book’s take place, teacher’s resource, some puzzles and more history about its events.