Doubloon Cove: The Secret of the Ancient Visitors

by Kelly Novak

In this first novel of the Doubloon Cove series, we meet tween-aged sleuths Jeffrey and Steven, both 12, and Cindy, 10 as they tackle their first case.

Jeffrey's and Cindy's parents are college professors, and believe that there is a thousand-year-old mystery right here in Doubloon Cove, Massachusetts. But their peers ridicule them, so they are too afraid to pursue it. So it is up to Jeffrey, Cindy, Steven and his brother Frederick, to solve the case. But they must battle dangerous caverns, their own fears, and must learn to work as a team, all while being chased by crooks who have their own agenda.

Set in a time before smartphones and Internet, Doubloon Cove is a thrilling adventure full of danger and revelations. History, mystery, and action come together in this compelling story; it is Nancy Drew meets the young Indiana Jones meets the Goonies.

200 pages, Paperback

Published July 3, 2017

About the author

An avid explorer, Kelly Novak has lived in or visited seventy-five countries on six continents including sites such as Machu Picchu, Easter Island, Petra, and the Pyramids of Giza and Tikal. Her adventures include a search for The Lost Ark in Ethiopia, getting trapped with no working flashlights in a cave in Guatemala, and train-hopping from Moscow to Venice carrying only a backpack.

She resides in New England living in houses with secret underground chambers and hidden rooms with ancient artifacts and texts. She holds a Master of Science degree in physics and an honorable discharge from the United States Air Force. She is presently planning her next big adventure.

Reviews

[Robin Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite an adventure. It reminded me of The Goonies in a way, but was completely believable. Everything that happened in the book could happen in reality. There were no supernatural monsters, but there were monsters of other kinds that had to be battled.

Jeffrey stumbles onto an old parchment, and that leads the kids on an adventure of a lifetime. At times, they were in great danger; and at one time, I could not see how they would get out of it. But they succeeded marvelously. They dare to go where parents fear to tread. Indeed, the story is told from the view of tweens; and they sneak around their parents to get the task accomplished. All four (three tweens and an older brother—two sets of siblings—each with different talents), are needed to solve the dangerous case. They learn to face their fears and learn to get along with their siblings.

This screams for a sequel or even a series.

[Rose Titus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great mystery story; I loved it!

[Ivan Hecimovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doubloon Cove: The Secret of the Ancient Visitors is a novel written by Kelly Novak. The novel’s premises are like this: some burglars break into the house where the novel’s protagonists- twelve-year-old boy named Jeffrey and his sister Cindy live. However, upon breaking in and after their escape, the burglars left a parchment. This parchment was no ordinary parchment. After some research, it was discovered that the parchment was indeed ancient and that it was similar to one that belonged to Jeffrey and Cindy’s parents. This is not all. The parchment is actually a map that leads to some secret treasure. The treasure’s location is in a nearby cavern. Two children decide to go to an adventure: they decide to take the map and to go to the cavern to see what kind of treasure lies in there. Together with help of Jeffrey’s friend Steven, the trio will begin an adventure that will be filled with action and mystery.
Personally, I love stories like this one. Ever since I was a child, I loved reading stories and watching movies about children going to adventures and discovering things like secret treasures, secret artifacts and similar. This is why I was so easily into this novel! My only objection on this novel is that is a tad too short. The author succeeded into putting everything she wanted to put inside and I think that is a fantastic work, but again my opinion is that the novel could be a bit longer (for fifty pages more maybe). Regardless of that, I give it 5 out of 5. The novel deserved it and the author too.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an amazing read! If I had a middle grade child, it would be one book that I would definitely recommend.

Jeffrey, his sister Cindy and his best friend Steven are looking for adventure. The book begins with an attempted burglary. I was impressed at the ingenuity and bravery of the children. The would-be thieves left a piece of parchment that connected to a piece that Jeffrey's father already possessed. This led the children to investigate into the mystery. The question was whether the Irish and the Vikings had merged in a trade in Doubloon Cove, the name of the Massachusetts town where they lived, a thousand years ago. The children discovered a cave hidden in Jeffrey and Cindy's backyard. This led to the discovery of evidence that, indeed, the Irisha and Vikings had indeed come together in trade agreement.

This book had several great qualities. It was suspenseful, intelligent, and enjoyable. I do have to say that at times the characters were whiny. But then I must remind myself that they are in middle school. I was impressed by the intelligence of the children. I am glad this was just a book because if parents left their children alone as often as these parents did ... well the authorities would probably be involved.

I really do hope the author continues the series. The characters have so much potential and the author has a great writing style.

[Julie Baswell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeffery was camping out in his backyard fort along with his friend Steven, when they heard strange noises coming from Jeffery’s house. Knowing that his younger sister Cindy was the only one there, Jeffery and Steven barge in, only to find that two crooks were breaking into the family safe. When Cindy calls the police, the crooks get away but leave their pack behind. Inside Jeffery discovers half an encrypted parchment. When Jeffery tells his dad about it, he finds that his dad has the other half and that is what the crooks were after. Intrigued, the kids believe it will lead them to an ancient Viking treasure. But can they decrypt the message and find the treasure before the crooks do?

This young reader was enjoyable, with plenty of comical moments that had me continuously laughing out loud. The sibling rivalry definitely brought back memories of my own that are bittersweet. I liked all the history of the area that was included. That made for interesting reading. And who can pass up a treasure hunt? But I don’t know that I would have been as brave as these kids were. I’m all for adventure, but this would have been too much for me.

[Noel Diem · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great little book that many people will like, especially if you are a fan of mystery and adventure books. Doubloon Cove: The Secret of the Ancient Visitors follows Cindy, Steven, and Jeffrey on the biggest adventures they've ever been on - and face the fact that their parents may not have been open to hearing their theories.

Overall, this is a gripping story for boys and girls in their preteen and early teen years. There are tons of great quotes and examples of bravery that children will definitely cling to. Of course, it also somewhat celebrates going against your parents. Still, it talks about the complicated notion of family and what they really means, something children will love and grasp as they age.
This isn't going to be the next story for the ages, but it is certainly a worthwhile read for any teenager who wants a little adventure.

The biggest problem is that this book needed a better copy editor from the start - there are glaring spelling mistakes and formatting issues that make this seem like a rushed attempt.

[D. Thrush · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the story, but I had several issues with the way it was told. First, the cover. Why a young girl on a ship? The main character is Jeffrey, and the kids are never on a ship. And what parents would leave a 12-year-old and his younger sister alone for the entire weekend, especially after their house had been broken into and “the crooks” hadn’t been captured? Also, “the crooks” were very cliched, greedy, violent, and dumb. Who uses that term anyway? There’s often back and forth between past and present tense in the same sentence. Some of the phrasing and terminology felt old-fashioned, and there were some minor errors. I found myself taken out of the story with all these issues that could’ve been fixed with good editing. However, the story itself was interesting and there's no cliffhanger, though the story is open enough for a sequel.

[Georgia Tumbleweed McNabb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good mystery involving young children who, after an attempted robbery, discover part of a map. They found out their own father purchased a portion of a map years ago. When they sneak in and get their father's map, the find it Is the other half. So starts their journey to discover a lost treasure. Narrator does a good job with the various characters and the entire storyline.

[Nadine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good series for YA. By the cover you’d think there would’ve been monsters . That was a little disappointing, but it’s more history so that’s understandable. I did in fact like the history. My son used to live in Salem . I definitely could picture the town. He lived right in the center walking distance to the witch museum. Happy Reading:)

[odedo1 Audio book worm. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vikings adventure.

A kids adventure book.

The author Kelly Novak wrote a cool kids adventure about the Vikings that been in that same area thousands of years ago.

Shannon Nicole Locke narrated each of the characters as should be.


Oded Ostfeld.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is set in Massachusetts in the early 1990s. Jeffrey and Steven are friends from school. Jeffrey has a younger sister Cindy. Jeffrey and Steven are looking for adventure, as the novel starts, they are in a shed on Jeffrey's family home, which they in innocence. When they go to Jeffrey's house, Cindy is in her bedroom as some repairmen have came while their parents are out. They are in fact thieves looking to steal some artifacts of their parents, but are foiled and don't succeed at it. What happens is that Jeffrey's parent, both Professors at University, tells them the basis for the robbery is that they believed and wrote a much derided work on both Viking and Irish visitors to what now is Massachusetts 1,000 years earlier. By the end of the first chapter, I was absorbed into the writing and interested in how the novel works out.

A really nice mystery / adventure novel with a little bit of cryptology thrown in, i found it quite an enjoyable read. A novel that while the target audience is teenagers, there is a lot of adults to enjoy in it. The dialogue is enjoyable to read particularly between the three main characters.