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Reviewed by:
  • York: The Shadow Cipher by Laura Ruby
  • Elizabeth Bush
Ruby, Laura York: The Shadow Cipher. Walden Pond/HarperCollins, 2017 [448p] (The Shadow Cipher)
Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-06-230693-7 $16.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-06-230695-1 $9.99
Reviewed from galleys         R Gr. 4-7

Correction:
There was an error in the print issue. The full title is York: The Shadow Cipher and the series title is York.

New York City still runs on the inventions of the Morningstarr twins, Theresa and Theodore, even after siblings' disappearance in the late nineteenth century. The city hums on power provided by their lion batteries; their robotic critters still scurry into civic spaces to whisk away rubbish as soon as it drops; stoic guardians still keep public transit running safely and smoothly. Now, however, developer Darnell Slant is scooping up property right and left, promising big shiny changes in his slick press conferences. His latest target is 354 West 73rd Street, an apartment building that's home to Tess and Theo Biedermann. The Biedermann twins, named in tribute to the Morningstarrs, are convinced that Slant wants this particular building because it may hold the key to a mysterious cipher left by Theresa and Theodore before their vanishing. With one month until eviction day, Tess and Theo enlist the help of neighbor Jaime Cruz to pick up where their grandfather left off in trying to solve the Old York Cipher, find the legendary Morningstarr treasure, and save their home. This debut volume of the Shadow Cipher series lays out a fascinating alternate New York City, whose roots run deep into a shady past that promises to be investigated further in subsequent titles. Although the cipher itself functions as little more than a McGuffin, the sleuthing trio is as doggedly determined as [End Page 424] sleuthing trios get. Villainous Slant—with his preposterous hair, penchant for supermodel wives, and habit of slapping his name in huge letters across his buildings—pulls strings offstage but is poised to emerge as a vivid character in his own right. Has Ruby added her own sly cipher? Will New York be big enough to hold Slant's huge plans? Hmmm.

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