Kirkus Reviews

When Uncle Wolfe takes them on a dinosaur hunt, orphaned twins Grace and Marty find themselves in a B-movie with email. When the twins' explorer parents vanish in the Amazon (to be found in the next book?), mischief-maker Marty and genius scaredy-cat Grace go to live on Uncle Wolfe's private island. Wolfe hunts cryptids: mythical creatures such as Yetis, Kraken, and Chupacabras. Though he doesn't intend to bring the children on his dinosaur hunt in the Congo, they arrive anyway, after falling from his airplane into the darkest jungle, accompanied only by a teacup poodle, a chimpanzee named Bo, and a high-end Gizmo complete with videoconferencing. There the children must reunite with their uncle, find the mythic dinosaur Mokele-mbembe, and avoid the minions of evil Dr. Blackwood. Luckily there are friendly Pygmies to help. And what is the deep, dark secret that has given Grace nightmares all her life—and what does it have to do with Dr. Blackwood? Enjoyably rollicking adventures are appropriately cheesy; the stereotypes, though equally fitting, are a bit much. (Fiction. 10-13)

ALA Booklist (Tue Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2005)

When twins Marty and Grace O'Hara discover that their adventurous parents have gone missing, they leave their Swiss boarding school and join their mysterious uncle, Travis Wolfe, on his island in Washington State. They soon learn that their uncle is one of the world's foremost authorities on cryptids (think Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster). Wolfe is scheduled to look for dinosaurs in the African jungle, and he plans to leave Marty and Grace in Europe before the expedition starts. Things go awry, however, when an accident plunges Marty and Grace into the middle of the Congolese jungle. Soon the henchmen of the evil Noah Blackwood are pursuing the twins. The action is nonstop in this well-paced jungle adventure, and Smith adds a deeper layer in scenes of Marty and Grace discovering truths about their complicated family relationships. Several loose ends suggest more cryptid-recovery expeditions to come.

School Library Journal (Sun May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2005)

Gr 5-8-When their parents disappear, twins Marty and Grace, 13, are taken in by their Uncle Travis, who searches the world for supposedly mythical creatures. After a parachute fall from an airplane, the kids find themselves in the middle of the Congo, where a surviving dinosaur may still exist. While their conservationist uncle tries to rescue the children, an evil cryptid hunter who kills species rather than saving them pursues the creature. Marty and Grace each have distinct, if not terribly complex personalities, and their adventures are quite absorbing. The first part of the story moves fairly slowly as the characters and the concept of cryptozoology are introduced. Once the twins hit the jungle, though, things get exciting. Along with the atmospheric setting, narrow escapes, and ruthless villains, a couple of neat personal revelations are woven into the tale, affecting nearly everybody involved. Both kids show courage and ingenuity as they try to survive the wild and avoid being captured. Marty's photographic memory provides a vehicle for presenting many facts about the environment without detracting from the tale. Grace is more introverted as she conquers her fears and discovers a life-changing revelation about her past. With the intriguing plot and plenty of well-paced action, this novel has fine booktalk potential and makes a good choice for adventure fans.-Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Readers expecting <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Jurassic Park–style adventures may be frustrated by the small role exotic creatures play in Smith's (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Zach's Lie) farfetched story. As the novel opens, 13-year-old twins Grace and Marty meet the uncle they never knew when their parents go down in a plane crash. Travis Wolfe, their uncle, is a reclusive "cryptozoologist" who lives on the private island Cryptos and researches animals "whose existence has not yet been proven scientifically." Wolfe's archenemy, Noah Blackwood, a conservationist well-known for his animal theme parks (called "Noah's Ark") and television appearances, is secretly a ruthless collector of rare species, which he then "harvests." Wolfe and Blackwood clash when an "alleged dinosaur egg" enters the picture; matters worsen when Grace and Marty are accidentally airdropped into the Congo, and Blackwood turns out to be hunting not just the egg but Grace herself. Logic takes a back seat when a convoluted family tree begins to emerge (though the author plants a clue at the start, when he says of the twins, "but you wouldn't know it if you saw them together")—it turns out Grace is not only Wolfe's daughter but Blackwood's granddaughter (Wolfe married Blackwood's daughter), while Marty is indeed Wolfe's nephew. An abrupt action sequence on the last few pages leaves many questions unanswered and plot lines dangling. This unsatisfying journey is less about cryptids than it is about soap opera–esque family intrigue. Ages 10-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Feb.)

Horn Book (Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2005)

After their parents' disappearance, twins Marty and Grace are claimed by a previously unknown uncle, join in his search for cryptids (legendary creatures like Bigfoot and Nessie; here a dinosaur hidden in the Congo), and run afoul of the despicable collector Blackwood. Stylistically clumsy, this high-interest story exploits adventure conventions (exotic locations, fancy gizmos) to good effect.