A mythic creature, a captive girl, and trouble at every turn!

Marty O'Hara and his best friend, Luther Smyth, have set off on their most urgent quest yet: an undercover search not for another mythical cryptid, but for Grace Wolfe -- Marty's cousin, Luther's friend, and the daughter of famed zoologist Travis Wolfe. Hoping to find out more about her mother, Grace has formed a shaky alliance with her grandfather, the notorious Noah Blackwood. Now she's living with him at his Seattle Ark . . . where she feels just as captive as all the other animals in his zoo.

But strange experiments are taking place in the levels of laboratories beneath the Blackwood's Ark. Because if Noah Blackwood can't trap a cryptid, then he and his team of mad scientists just might have to create one. With Blackwood's henchman Butch McCall hot on the kids' heels and trouble at every turn, are Marty, Luther, and Grace on a collision course with a blood-sucking chupacabra?

Marty and Grace have discovered that they are cousins rather than twins. Grace has been kidnapped by Blackwood, and a plot twist makes her very valuable to him. Marty’s parents are still missing in the Brazilian rainforest. Wolfe has turned out to be Marty’s uncle and Grace’s dad! Marty and his friend Luther are determined to get Grace back, but must match wits with Blackwood and his unethical henchmen. In the midst of their rescue they discover that Blackwood is playing God with science, and the results are highly unexpected and quite dangerous ( )

The plot seemed pushed/strained. I guess, for a children's novel it was okay, but personally I liked the first book best. Rose's story is never revealed and Marty and Grace are always outwitting Blackwood. ( )

Read and reviewed from NetGalley

Roland Smith has done it again with his newest in the Marty and Grace series , Chupacabra. An exciting read that takes place primarily at the Noah's Ark site in Seattle. When the second book in the series, Tentacles, ended Grace was with her grandfather and he also had the dinosaur hatchlings. This third book introduces a new character, Dylan Hitchcock, son of members of the Cryptos Island Crew.
Marty and Luther and Dylan sneak into the Ark to see Grace and hopefully bring her and dinosaur hatchlings out.

Noah Blackwood's cast of villains contains the usuals, Butch and Yvonne and introduces the reader to a behind the scenes look at the Ark and the horrors being done there. Among them the Chupacabra, who loves the blood of young goats. The cover illustration so perfectly sets the mood for this beast.

Filled with non stop action and with the bravery, humor and ingenuity of the 4 young people, this book is a welcome addition and is another winner for Mr. Smith.
Of course the ending is the segue way into the next book. ( )

Monsters of legend come to life in the third thrilling title in Roland Smith's popular Cryptid Hunters series.

A mysterious creature, a missing girl, and danger at every turn . . .

Chupacabra, the riveting sequel to Tentacles and Cryptid Hunters, reunites Marty and his unusual uncle, cryptozoologist Travis Wolfe, as they search the world for Wolfe's daughter, Grace. Grace has been kidnapped by her grandfather, the ruthless and dangerous Noah Blackwood, who has also stolen the two dinosaur hatchlings Wolfe was raising in secrecy.

Now, with word that the mysterious creature known as Chupacabra has been sighted again, Wolfe is torn between his obsession with finding cryptids and his desperate need to rescue his daughter. With trouble at every turn and adangerous journey ahead, will Marty and Wolfe come face-to-face with the mythic monster? Even more frightening, will they reach Grace before it's too late?