INDEPENDENCE HALL

Thirteen-year-old “Q,” or Quest, is at a life-changing moment. His singer-songwriter mother, Blaze, is marrying Roger, and together they have a hit album. The rocker couple plans a cross-country tour with the kids. A year out of school with only an online tutor leaves plenty of time for Q to practice his magic tricks and to get to know his new 15-year-old stepsister, Angela. The tour bus stops in Philadelphia, the parents exit to do their show—and Angela confides to Q that she believes they are being followed. With the help of Boone, a former roadie (and retired spook) who is now in charge of the kids, they realize that Angela is in danger: Her mother, a CIA agent believed to have perished in a terrorist attack, may still be alive. A blend of adventure, suspense, intelligently imagined characters and terrific authorial sleight-of-hand (not to mention Q’s own card tricks) will keep readers engaged as the kids solve the mystery in this series opener. An interactive website is scheduled to launch with the book’s release. (Fiction. 10-14)