Super Sons: The PolarShield Project

PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY REVIEW 2019

Damian Wayne and Jonathan Kent may be the offspring of Batman and Superman, but they are still too young to follow in their fathers’ footsteps. While their superdads attempt to save the world from coastal devastation caused by climate change, Damian and Jon team up with two other friends, Candace and Tilly, to find out who or what is behind the outbreak of an illness infecting, among others, Jon’s mother, Lois Kent, née Lane. Not only are they new at this whole superhero business, they must navigate their new partnership, all four with something to hide. Pearson integrates timely elements through the focus on climate change and allusions to the refugee experience, while Gonzalez’s artwork is vivid and crisp, riffing on a classic comic style. Though the protagonists are inexperienced heroes in the making, action scenes evoke some of the best of their fathers’ adventures, albeit on a more modest scale. Pearson and Gonzalez’s take on the iconic figures offers good fun, especially for young readers who are just discovering the DC universe. Ages 8–12. Agent: Joanna Volpe, New Leaf Literary. (Apr.)

The Final Step

Lock & Key: The Final Step

“Will leave you dying to know more.” —Rick Riordan, author of the #1 bestselling Percy Jackson series

The New York Times bestselling author of the Peter and the Starcatchers and Kingdom Keepers series, Ridley Pearson, brings us the thrilling conclusion to the Lock and Key trilogy.

Before James Moriarty and his sister Moria enrolled in Baskerville Academy, they were inseparable—as close to best friends as a brother and sister could be. But since setting foot on the boarding school’s campus, James has been different.

At Baskerville, he’s become cunning, deceptive, ruthless, sometimes reckless. And now that his roommate Sherlock Holmes has been expelled, there’s no one left to help Moira figure out what’s going on with her brother or to uncover the connection between a recent string of deaths.

To Moria, it seems obvious that someone has it out for the Moriarty family. First their father and then their family driver and now their legal guardian—clearly something is afoot. But to get the answers they need, they’ll first have to deal with an incriminating photograph, secret safe houses, and powerful enemies.

It’s a highly original and satisfying take on the Sherlock Holmes series as only master of suspense Ridley Pearson could envision. As Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson series, says, “This tale will change the way you see Sherlock Holmes and leave you dying to know more.”

The Downward Spiral

Lock and Key: The Downward Spiral

At the thrilling conclusion to book one, we left off with James and Moira’s father dying horribly and unexpectedly. Now the search is on to find out what really happened to their father. Did he fall or was he pushed? Sherlock, James, and Moira reluctantly partner up, trusting no one, not even each other, as they uncover a secret sect, a rare jewel, and a sordid history. Blood is spilled, trusts broken, and friendships lost in this story of how one simple mistake cost Father his life and James his heart, and sent the Moriartys spiraling ever downward.

It’s a highly original and satisfying take on the Sherlock Holmes series as only master of suspense Ridley Pearson could envision. As Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson series, says, “This tale will change the way you see Sherlock Holmes and leave you dying to know more.”

Disney At Last

The Return: Disney At Last

The stakes are high—both for the past and the future. The finale of The Return series leaves the Kingdom Keepers with unimaginable choices to make.

The Gadwell Incident

Lock and Key: The Gadwell Incident

Download a FREE copy of the short story, Lock and Key: The Gadwell Incident

The New York Times bestselling author of the Peter and the Starcatcher and Kingdom Keepers series, Ridley Pearson, brings us the stirring digital prequel to the Lock and Key series, which reimagines the origins of the rivalry between Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty.

In The Gadwall Incident, readers get a glimpse into James’s life a mere twenty-four hours before the tipping point—before life as he knows it changes irrevocably and his childhood slips into the shadows. Readers will come to know the dangers that surround the Moriartys before James and Moria are sent off to the hallowed halls of Baskerville Academy, where they first meet the insufferable, inexhaustible Sherlock Holmes. It’s a tale full of intrigue and false starts and daring getaways, one that will leave readers desperate to know what’s next.

The Initiation

Lock & Key: The Initiation

A riveting tale about the origins of the rivalry of literature’s most famous enemies—Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty, told from the perspective of James’s observant little sister, Moria.

Before James grew up to be a ruthless, remorseless villain, he was a curious boy from Boston, with a penchant for trouble and an acid tongue. Thrown into a boarding school against his wishes, James winds up rooming with a most unlikely companion: a lanky British know-it-all named Sherlock Holmes (“Lock” to his friends). An heirloom Bible, donated by the Moriarty family more than a hundred years ago, has gone missing, and it doesn’t take long for the two to find themselves embroiled in the school-wide scandal.

The school is on lockdown until it’s found, strange clues keep finding their way to James, and a secret society lurks behind it all. It’s a brave new reimagining of the Sherlock Holmes series as only master of suspense Ridley Pearson could envision. As Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson series says, “This tale will change the way you see Sherlock Holmes and leave you dying to know more.”

White Bone

White Bone

When Grace Chu vanishes in her attempt to investigate a switched vaccine in Kenya, John Knox encounters savage elephant poachers and their terrorist sponsors in his efforts to follow her trail.

“[S]tirring… Amid all the turmoil, Pearson highlights the very real threat of extinction faced by Kenya’s magnificent wildlife.”
—Publishers Weekly

“This crackling adventure doubles as a survival guide for your next trip to the striking, endangered landscape of East Africa.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Series fans will appreciate the deeper exploration of John’s and Grace’s characters as they reconcile their feelings for each other. Another perfectly calibrated installment in Pearson’s thriller world tour (with earlier stops in Shanghai, Amsterdam, and Istanbul); puzzling clues and immersive, full-sensory descriptions of Kenya balance cutthroat international criminal networks and teeth-clenching firefights.”
—Booklist

“Ridley Pearson’s Risk Agent series has re-energized the international thriller. Fast-paced, well-researched, with plots that might be tomorrow’s headlines, the Knox-Chu novels lead us through the shadowy underside of the world’s most intriguing cities.”
Greg Iles, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Natchez Burning

Legacy of Secrets

The Return: Legacy of Secrets

When five present-day teenagers known as the Kingdom Keepers find themselves thrown into the Disneyland of the past (Opening Day, 1955), things don’t go exactly as they’d hoped. They come here to retrieve Walt Disney’s famous fountain pen that once saved the Magic Kingdom. But like all things Disney, nothing is as it seems.

Come explore the early days of the Tower of Terror, discover the origin of the Overtakers (Disney villains), and read on as the real power of magic unfolds in an unexpected series of events that propel both the Keepers and Disneyland itself into the threat of a darkness no one saw coming.

Disney Lands

The Return: Disney Lands

With the defeat of the Overtakers behind them, the five teenagers known as the Kingdom Keepers should be celebrating. By all accounts they saved Disneyland from certain destruction. Why then did their mentor leave one last puzzle for them to decipher? The Keepers must solve a puzzle of the past, or be crushed under an evil that makes the Overtakers seem like gentle souls.

The Syndrome

The Syndrome

When Amanda travels east to Orlando on a hunch, she’s met with the worst news possible. Kingdom Keeper Finn Whitman is missing. Calling on her own gift (she’s telekinetic), her sister Jess’s ability to dream the future, and their fellow Fairlie Mattie Weaver’s unexplained ability to read minds through physical contact, the three gifted girls must navigate treachery, deception, and the stubborn, unwilling parents of the missing Keepers if they’re to save their friends.