''The Viper's Nest'' is the seventh book in The 39 Clues series. It was written by Peter Lerangis and was released by Scholastic on February 2, 2010. The 39 Clues series is intended for children aged 8–12, and takes the form of a multimedia adventure story spanning 10 books. The stories focus on a brother and sister, Amy and Dan Cahill, and their efforts to piece together clues left by the matriarch of the family, Grace Cahill, upon her death.Scholastic Media Joins Post Cereals for The 39 Clues "Race to Win" Sweepstakes
/ref> ''The Viper's Nest'' follows immediately on from the events of the preceding book: ''In Too Deep''. The events are described, below, using in-universe tone. Shocked by the death of Irina Spasky, Dan and Amy venture into danger once again. For the first, they begin to question how much they trust their

au pair An au pair (; plural: au pairs) is a helper from a foreign country working for, and living as part of, a host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family's responsibility for childcare as well as some housework, and receive a monet ...

, Nellie. Later in the book, she regains their trust. The inside front and back covers read “MADRIGAL LEADER=GRACE” when the letters are alternated beginning with the front cover. Front Cover: MDIALAE=RC Back Cover: ARGLEDRGAE The

Morse code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of ...

dashes and dots, along the page margins in the middle of the book, reads: "THERE IS A MADRIGAL WATCHER".

Plot summary

The book begins the morning after the fire that killed Irina Spasky, who was an ex-

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

and

Lucian Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound (and therefore ...

spy. The two kids are shaken by what had happened, not believing that Irina was on their side, after attempting to kill them earlier in the series. They realize that

Isabel Isabel is a female name of Spanish origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of '' Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheva''), Arising in the 12th century, it became popul ...

has reported them to the police, and they make a quick getaway using Irina's boat. Dan finds a notebook in Irina's bag and in it they find the phrase : "I'm with you and you're with me and so we are all together". Using their decoding abilities,

Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

and

Amy Amy is a female given name, sometimes short for Amanda, Amelia, Amélie, or Amita. In French, the name is spelled ''"Aimée"''. People A–E * Amy Acker (born 1976), American actress * Amy Vera Ackman, also known as Mother Giovanni (1886– ...

figure out that the words are actually a song, which points them to

Pretoria, South Africa Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foothi ...

. They are found by the police and

Alistair Alistair is a masculine given name. It is an Anglicised form of the Scottish Gaelic '' Alasdair''. The latter is most likely a Scottish Gaelic variant of the Norman French Alexandre or Latin Alexander, which was incorporated into English in the s ...

is captured. There, he finds out that the person who framed them is actually Bae Oh. He escapes by faking death by

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

. Amy, Dan and Nellie safely board a plane to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. There, they are given a postcard suggesting a connection with

Shaka Zulu Shaka kaSenzangakhona ( – 22 September 1828), also known as Shaka Zulu () and Sigidi kaSenzangakhona, was the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1816 to 1828. One of the most influential monarchs of the Zulu, he ordered wide-reaching reforms that ...

. As they unravel the history of Shaka, they find out that he was a member of the Tomas branch, and was connected to

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

. After infiltrating a Tomas stronghold, and steal the Clue, they find that it is

diamonds Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...

. They are captured by the Kabras while leaving South Africa. Isabel Kabra offers Dan and Amy to join their family. When they decline, Isabel orders them to be tied in chairs, and chopped to pieces by a spinning propeller. They escape with the help of Professor Bardsley, a Cahill that is uninvolved with the Hunt, together with the

vial A vial (also known as a phial or flacon) is a small glass or plastic vessel or bottle, often used to store medication as liquids, powders or capsules. They can also be used as scientific sample vessels; for instance, in autosampler devices i ...

of green liquid that they thought was their first clue in ''

The Maze of Bones ''The Maze of Bones'' is the first novel of The 39 Clues series, written by Rick Riordan and published September 9, 2008 by Scholastic. It stars Amy and Dan Cahill, two orphans who discover, upon their grandmother Grace's death, that they are par ...

'', by flying Grace Cahill's old plane, ''The Flying Lemur''. During the ride, Dan and Amy accidentally break the vial, spilling some of the contents onto Dan's arm. It is revealed to be a Lucian poison. To get the antidote, they fly to Grace Cahill's home in Madagascar. While at Grace's Malagasy home, they solve a code in a letter they found that said: TOMAS CLUE IS UMHLABA. find a page in her journal that says, ″I am feeling melancholy today, thinking about my dear A & H and missing them so. I cannot even bear to listen to my beloved di Lasso, because of the reminder...″, and on another page it says, ″I have written Deng Xiaoping, who has agreed to grant to visit to A & H when he discovered that they, like him, are "M." This leads Dan to realize with horror that his and Amy's family branch are the Madrigals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viper's Nest, The The 39 Clues novels 2010 American novels Collaborative fiction Sequel novels 2010 children's books Scholastic Corporation books Children's books set in South Africa Novels set in South Africa