Mission Titanic is the first book in the fourth series of The 39 Clues, Doublecross.
At only seventeen years old, Ian Kabra is head of the Cahills, the most powerful family in the world. He has presidents on speed dial, generals at his beck and call. Ian knows he's an ideal leader and the only man enough for the job. There's just one small problem: He’s already messed up big-time.
A Cahill from the past calling himself the Outcast has risen to challenge Ian with an impossible test. Ian was thrown out of his post and the Outcast took over the mansion. The Outcast has re-created four of history's greatest disasters and dared Ian to stop him. If Ian and his allies can't decipher the Outcast’s hints in time, innocent people will die. Ian’s only chance to beat the Outcast is to track down his former allies, Amy and Dan. But finding Amy and Dan will demand from Ian an impossible sacrifice...
Tropes:
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: Saladin ends up ripping off Ian's pants, exposing his boxers in front of powerful Cahill branch leaders.
- Continuity Nod: The Franklin Institute's bombing in the first ever book is brought back as a vital clue to the Outcast's riddle.
- In Harm's Way: This was what has been gradually happening to Amy and Dan after they quit the Cahill business.What they hadn't been able to admit to each other in the past few months was that maybe they'd grown just the tiniest bit bored. Maybe his life had changed so much that he couldn't go back to being happy just hanging out. So he'd pushed them. From surfing to paragliding. From rock climbing to bungee jumping. From parachuting to wind BASE jumping.
- Put on a Bus: The Rosenblossom siblings don't join the young Cahills' quest to stop the Outcast, due to the latter's rule of excluding outsiders from preventing the four recreated Cahill-made disasters. The closest thing we get to them is a brief text conversation between Amy and Jake.
- Red Herring: Played straight and subverted. The Outcast's riddle makes the young Cahills think that the natural disaster he was referring to was the Titanic, but this is shot down because the sinking caused people to either drown or be saved. They then refer to an accident in Halifax 1917, where two ships collided, igniting TNT and other materials, and causing an explosion that maimed and blinded thousands of people. But when they can't find any trace of explosives on any of the boats there, they realise that it is the Titanic, for two reasons. One, there is a replica Titanic about to set sail. And two, Dan and Amy were picked up on Mont Blanc, and the maiming and blinding were referring to the Starlings' injuries incurred from the Franklin Institute bombing.Your first disaster began at sea
It was sad - rich and poor died in agony
Broke all records for calamity
For those still clad in pajamity
A collision caused the terrible losses
In the Maritimes you'll find the crosses
On Mont Blanc rests the ones to blame
Oh, to maim, blind, and kill, and have no shame!
It will happen again if you can't stop it
At least the Cahill fam will profit! - Smarter Than You Look: Mabel Rose is actually very perceptive, despite her young age of 11.
- The Reveal: Irina actually had a brother named Alek Spasky, who had his photos erased after his sudden disappearance.
