INCA WRAITH

In this first installment of a middle-grade adventure series, tweens in the early 20th century confront a lethal specter that escapes a 400-year-old pyramid.

CJ Kask and his single archaeologist father, Angus, are back home in Minnesota after an expedition. They haven’t even unpacked when two representatives from the Chicago Museum of Archaeology knock on their door. The men ask Angus to check on a survey in Peru, where a team has discovered the Inca temple of Inti, the sun god, and a pyramid. The group has been sending the museum weekly reports for several months—but there’s been no word for the last three weeks. Angus and his 11-year-old son board a steam yacht in San Francisco, with a handful of experts joining the southerly voyage. Their kids tag along as well, each roughly the same age as CJ. At the site, just south of Lima, the survey team is there, though minus a member or two. It’s not long before Angus and the others see what’s been happening, as a shadowy wraith attacks and drains the life from someone. While the adults investigate this phenomenon, CJ and his pals aren’t far behind, much to their parents’ chagrin. Light seems to keep the wraith at bay, which only makes exploring dark pyramid corridors more unnerving. And the deadly spirit may not be the sole problem in Peru; CJ suspects at least some of the survey team members are up to something shady. The youngsters put their heads together so they can help their parents fight menaces, be they human or otherwise.

Cameron peppers this short novel with local culture and history. For example, characters discuss Khipu, a system of knotted cords that the Inca used “for keeping track of things.” In the same vein, there are ample signs of the story’s 1917 time period; along with the steam-powered boat, Angus and his team communicate by wireless telegraph and witness the first ever intravenous therapy. This narrative doesn’t hide the wraith’s identity, opening in 1532 around the time the Spanish invaded the Inca Empire—in the identical spot as the 20th-century archaeological survey. But bits of mystery are entertaining, from encountering various languages to CJ’s deciphering messages in Morse code. This sharp adolescent protagonist is just one in a memorable cast of tweens; smart and capable Sadie MacGregor doubles as CJ’s possible romantic interest, while Frederick van Housen is the story’s resident bully. Of course, some of the adults stand out, too, like warmhearted Angus as well as Frederick’s dad, Axel, the expedition’s head of security. Cameron’s terse prose energizes the tight narrative and brief chapters. It moreover amplifies suspense; CJ and Sadie “dashed across the road into the trees and made their way to a spot below the pyramid just in time to see the three men emerge from the trees.” There are flashes of supernatural horror and some violence among humans (including guns and a few bombs) in the gripping story. Readers will surely stick around for the sequel.

Young heroes headline a paranormal tale both riveting and educational.