The Forbidden Door by Dean Koontz (2018) Bantam

Another episode in the Jane Hawk saga.  Jane is now the most wanted fugitive in America and false news is put out there claiming an autopsy shows her husband was murdered, implying Jane did it.  But he was cremated, so an autopsy cannot be performed.  Her in-laws escape their ranch just before the Arcadians can kidnap and enslave them.  In the meantime, Jane is pursued and fights her way to freedom.  She sets in motion a plan to retrieve her son with the help of friends.  Her pursuers must deal with enslaved minions who are going out of control.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (2009) Doubleday

Another in the series of Professor Langdon’s thrillers related to symbology.  In this episode, Langdon is invited to a presentation by one of his former students at the Bilbao museum in Spain.  But before the man can do the final reveal, he is killed by a sniper.  Langdon and the host museum’s leader, who is also the fiancé of the Spanish prince, pursue releasing the information anyway, which the assassin was sent to prevent, so he turns his eye on Langdon and pursues him into a cathedral.

The Mostly True Story of Jack by Kelly Barnhill (2011) Little Brown Books

A juvenile urban fantasy novel about a boy whose parents are getting divorced and while his brother gets to spend the in-between time until their parents get their new places to live, he has to go stay with an Aunt and Uncle he barely knows.  His mother and father forget him too easily.  He’s not in any family pictures, his mother doesn’t even always remember who he is when she’s talking to him.

As he leaves, his brother surprises him with a gift of his old skateboard, which Jack hides, because he doesn’t want his mother to say he can’t take it with him.

At his eccentric Aunt and Uncle’s home, he finds almost all walls are covered with books.  He makes a friend, a first for him, a girl whose twin brother was taken when he was younger and who came back with horrible scars on one side of his face.  She’s the terror of the bully who is the son of the richest and most powerful man in town – Mr. Avery.

But Mr. Avery wants Jack dead so he can control the magic that lives under the town.

Vanished by James Ponti (2017) Aladdin

A juvenile mystery – in which our hero, Florian Bates and his friend Margaret are assigned by the FBI to be exchange students at another Washington D.C. middle school to find out who is pulling pranks – especially since the President’s daughter attends there.  Someone put glue in the locks of three students including the first daughter, someone set off the fire alarm and someone crashed the schools’ chat server.

There are mysterious organizations, there is a foreign exchange student who is a prodigy, there are stuck-up cliques and there is the first daughter herself.  All of this combined with the Theory Of All Small Things, makes Florian and Margaret the ideal agents to solve the mystery and save the day.

Framed by James Ponti (2016) Aladdin

Florian Bates is your average 13 year-old, except he is very smart and has developed a method of solving puzzles he calls the Theory of All Small Things, or TOAST.  He teaches this method to his new best friend, Margaret.  His parents are a security expert and an art expert who both work at the local art museum.  While practicing toast at the museum, Florian and Margaret notice something suspicious.  A few days later, while visiting again, there is an art heist.  Florian helps find the three paintings before they even leave the premises.  Even though everyone is convinced that the Romanian Mafia is behind the theft.  This results in Florian being hired as a covert asset for the FBI.

Florian gets FBI training in self-defense and hostage survival.  He even gets some gadgets; a free for life metro card, which helps the FBI track his movements, and a pair of glasses that record video and even a panic button in the form of an asthma inhaler.

His friend Margaret wants him to use his unique talents to find her birth parents.  Florian is not sure she should get this information, but she’s his best friend and they set out to find what they can.  They visit the fire station where she was left as an infant and the captain remembers.  Only he never met her parents.

The head of the Romanian mafia in the U.S. is seen where Florian is watching his friend play and win the city championship soccer game.  The FBI take no chances and grab Florian and take him home.  And tell him he’s off the case.  But that doesn’t stop Florian and he and Margaret go to an open-to-the public reception at the Romanian embassy to spy of the mafia king-pin.  Only he sees them and they have to be rescued again.

While confined to his house, Florian figures-out that another painting was stolen and tells the FBI.  His mother secrets a chip of paint from the suspect picture and when the FBI analyze the chip, they know it’s a forgery.

But before they can figure out where the real painting is, Florian is kidnapped – by the kingpin.