There is a section in the back which explains the background behind some of the concepts and terms found in the book. Parsons has also tried to sprinkle some real-world bits of knowledge about the “secrets” of science and the “magic” of technology into the story so that the reading experience can be educational as well as entertaining.

While it can be enjoyed by anyone, with its exciting plot, fast-moving action, and short chapters, this book is perfect for “reluctant” readers who like lots of adventure, but maybe aren’t quite ready for a 400+ page book, yet don’t want a “kidified” book with pictures. Will the kids make it home? Will they even survive? They hope to make it home by supper, but the boat’s motor sputters and dies, triggering an amazing chain of events that involve being stranded on a deserted island, an earthquake, Russian spies, a treacherous tidal wave, shadowy dolphinbots, puzzling petroglyphs, a mysterious crystal, and an American military secret. Is the tunnel really there and where does it lead? On the way back to the hotel, Jonathan and Edison decide to take a borrowed boat to Dead Chest Island and see for themselves. The pictures turn out to be photos of the submarine base, but while waiting for them to develop, Jonathan’s grandfather tells a curious tale of pirates and a cabin boy, Jonathan’s great great great granddaddy Samuel, who was swept into an underwater tunnel on Dead Chest Island. Jonathan’s grandfather is a photographer, so the two boys go to him to develop the pictures. Later Edison meets a new friend Jonathan, whose parents work at the hotel where the Joneses are staying, and when Jonathan asks to use the pen, they find out that it’s actually a little camera. At the airport, a man drops a pen, but before Edison can get it to him he disappears in the crowd. Jones, is there ostensibly to help close down a World War II era submarine base.

Virgin Islands, with his parents and older sister Charlotte.

What would you do if you thought you had come across some spies? It is around 1954, during the days of the Cold War with the old Soviet Union, and young Edison Jones is visiting a tropical Caribbean island, perhaps one of the U.

Dead Chest Island by J.J. Parsons