I read this as news of the invasion of Ukraine and the spectre of Russia deploying nuclear weapons or other WMD was once again at the forefront of international concerns. Although somewhat older, I found Omega City to be eerily on-target.
Gillian Seagret's father is obsessed with Dr. Aloysius Underberg, a rocket scientist who vanished years ago, and has published a book about him. Unfortunately, her mom leaves them after her father's book is totally discredited, all his evidence ruined in a flood, and the paparazzi hounded the family into camping to escape the fisheye-lens of media attention.
Now a new "girlfriend" has attached herself to Gillian's scruffy-looking dad, and Gil thinks the sudden infatuation stinks -- and not just because Gil wishes her parents hadn't split. No, this new woman, Fiona Smythe, stinks of something very rotten -- and may even be the thief who used the flood as cover to steal her father's research, ruin his career, and split her parents in the process.
But how to prove it? Gil finds a page in her father's messy files -- a page from a key document that was stolen, Dr. Underberg's diary. Is it just a nonsense riddle? Or is it directions -- a map -- to the Dr.'s most amazing invention, the one her dad has been chasing forever?
Turns out it's the latter, and Gills, her older brother Eric, the (totally unnecessary) babysitter Savannah, the hot pizza delivery boy, Nate, and his little brother who's an expert on all-things-NASA and can help them solve the riddle, Howard, track down the entrance to the place hiding the "invention."
Except, it's not just one thing. It's an entire place. A bunker. Right. Under. Their. Noses.
And Fiona and her goons are hot on their trail!
I won't spoil how it ends, just know I really enjoyed how this mystery unfolded and the twists and turns along the way. I can't wait to read the sequels if my library can get them via inter-library loan (and with COVID, I have no idea when that may be). I only wish I'd discovered the author sooner. We love her YA, Clue!-based mysteries!
