''The Exposed'' is the 27th book in the ''

Animorphs ''Animorphs'' is a science fantasy series of children's books written by Katherine Applegate and her husband Michael Grant, writing together under the name K. A. Applegate, and published by Scholastic. It is told in first person, with all ...

'' series, written by

K.A. Applegate Katherine Alice Applegate (born October 9, 1956), known professionally as K. A. Applegate or Katherine Applegate, is an American young adult and children's fiction writer, best known as the author of the ''Animorphs'', ''Remnants'', ''Everworld'' ...

. It is known to have been

ghostwritten ''Ghostwritten'' is the first novel published by English author David Mitchell. Published in 1999, it won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and was widely acclaimed. The story takes place mainly around East Asia, but also moves through Russia, B ...

by Laura Battyanyi-Weiss, although due to an editorial oversight, Battyanyi-Weiss was uncredited for this book. It is narrated by Rachel. The front cover quote is "They thought they'd seen it all. They were wrong...." The inside front cover quote is "Rachel's getting a sinking feeling..."

Plot summary

During a shopping trip with

Cassie Cassie is a feminine given name and a short form of various other given names mostly used in English-speaking countries. It is more rarely a surname. People and fictional characters named Cassie include: People with the name Given name or nickna ...

, Rachel sees

Erek Arak ( ar, آراك, also spelled Urak or Araq) is a village in eastern Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate. It is situated on an oasis in the Syrian Desert along the road between Palmyra which is 28 kilometers to the southwest and ...

's hologram malfunctioning. They barely manage to get him away before other humans notice. Soon they discover every Chee is having trouble with their technology, particularly their holograms, because of interferences with the Pemalite ship hidden in the ocean. The vast majority of the Chee have adequately hidden themselves, so humans cannot discover they are aliens. However, two are still in danger. One of the Chee in danger, Lourdes, is hidden in a

flophouse A flophouse (American English) or dosshouse (British English) is a place that offers very low-cost lodging, providing space to sleep and minimal amenities. Characteristics Historically, flophouses, or British "doss-houses", have been used for o ...

where drug

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...

occurs, but a SWAT team - with a Controller member - are about to raid the house. The Animorphs successfully rescue her. Next, the Animorphs need to come up with a plan in order to reach the Pemalite ship, so they can fix the malfunctioning technology. They struggle to think of an appropriate morph for the bottom of the ocean. Cassie realizes a giant squid would work, but they still do not know how to get close to one. They do know sperm whales capture giant squids. Thankfully, a sperm whale has been beached. Rachel and Tobias acquire the whale's DNA, morph into the whale, dive into the ocean, and find and then end up battling a squid. Finally, all the Animorphs acquire the squid and dive together. They notice several Yeerk bug fighters en route to the Pemalite ship as well, following the signal. Reaching it first, they use the single-digit access code to infiltrate it and fix the Chee programming, but then a self-destruct sequence is initiated too. The group is confronted by a being called the Drode, an aide of sorts to the

Crayak ''Animorphs'' is a science fantasy series of children's books written by Katherine Applegate and her husband Michael Grant, writing together under the name K. A. Applegate, and published by Scholastic. It is told in first person, with all ...

. The Drode threatens and insults them all. He shows some bizarre fondness for Rachel and tells her that if she wants to gain favor with the Crayak, then she should kill Jake. The Yeerks also emerge into the ship, and the group must stand and fight them before allowing them to gain control. But as the battle reaches a climax, Erek appears - to the shock of the Drode - and activates a violence-dispeller. The Yeerks and Animorphs are forced to leave the ship, and the Chee have their holograms restored.

Morphs

{{DEFAULTSORT:Exposed Animorphs books 1999 science fiction novels 1999 American novels Underwater novels