Monday, July 23, 2012

Operation Trinity

Operation Trinity by Clifford Riley

I am sure you have heard the saying that a book is like a good friend. This is certainly true of a book series. We all have our favorites. We wait, impatiently, for them to be published so that we can find out what happens next to our favorite characters. We catch up with good friends.
But what about our not so good friends? Am I the only one who likes to catch up with an acquaintance? A nemesis? Maybe this is a strange thing to think about, but I have a point. I do keep tabs on people that have been in and out of my life – friend or foe. It might be paranoia. It might be for amusement.
The point. I said that I wasn’t going to continue to read the 39 Clues series. I said I was done. I wouldn’t read anymore. Four books ago. I didn’t stop. Why not? Because I want to know what happens to the characters, favorite or otherwise. I invested the time into 11 books and I still don’t know the outcome. It is nowhere near my favorite series, but that doesn’t seem to matter. The only other alternative is that my obsessive tendency requires me to finish what I have started.
Letting it go… Operation Trinity is part of an entirely new/different series that is a companion series to the 39 Clues and Cahills vs. Vespers. It’s called The Cahill Files. Yeah – you can hear my excitement. It gets better (more sarcasem.) You can get a hard copy of the first book in the series; the other two books are only available electronically. I DON’T BUY BOOKS. And they cannot be borrowed yet.
Anyway... It reminds me a lot of Vespers Rising. The story comes in three parts – far past, recent past, future. Part One is set nearly 500 years ago near Ghent, Belgium. A young altar boy learns that he is a part of a family called the Cahills. That same night, he is sent to protect the altarpiece of St. Bavo’s Cathedral. He learns just in time because the Vespers are stirring up unrest amongst the peasants against the Catholic Church. The Vespers are working towards a distraction so that they can steal the painting.
Part Two takes place in 1945 during World War II. Young Grace Cahill is in boarding school. She is determined to deny her Cahill upbringing. She is receiving letters from a curator at the Louvre in Paris, France, but she chooses to ignore them. Until she realizes that the Vespers might be in league with the Nazis and her refusal to act is actually perpetuating the war. She stows aboard a naval vessel and heads to Europe to do her part to end the Nazi atrocities. She’ll start by saving the famous Ghent altarpiece.
Part Three occurs just prior to the hunt for the 39 clues. Young Ian and Natalie Kabra are about to go on their very first mission. An important scientist has invented a tool to be used in the restoration of art. Isabel Kabra wants her children to break into the University in Belgium and steal the blueprints for the tool so that the Lucians can build it first. Finally! The Kabra Kids get an opportunity to try out the skills they’ve been honing their entire lives. Is it coincidence that the altarpiece is very close by?
I almost prefer these background stories. Alas, this may be the only one I’ll ever get a hold of. Get it now, before the fans realize that it’s available!
A couple 39 Clues’ reviews: Book 9 – Storm Warning, Book 10 – Into the Gauntlet
Cahills vs. Vespers series reviews can be found here

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