VIPER ISLAND: THE STORY SO FAR

Casey and Amber Vane are two very affluent children who are amazed and humiliated when they are turned out of the local country club because the family's membership has lapsed. The whole incident is made worse because the whole incident blows up on account of Jerry and Jeannine Courant, who are sort-of-friends of the Vanes. It is their father, Charles Courant, the current president of the club, who actually orders them to leave.

Back at home, Amber and Casey are devastated to learn that the Courants are in the right. The Vanes' membership has lapsed. Mr. and Mrs. Vane have both lost their highly-paid jobs, and the family can no longer afford to live in expensive, upscale Foxley Park. Mr. Vane tells them that he plans to sell their big house and move the family to their small vacation house in Vermont.

Amber, in particular, takes the news very badly. She begins spreading the news to all her friends online. Everyone seems very sympathetic. However, something happens that causes her to call Casey over . . .

Someone is spreading nasty, gloating messages about their troubles. Both children are upset, and they tell their father. They, and their father, suspect that the Courants are behind the messages. Mr. Vane confides to his children that during his work (before he was fired) he had come across evidence that suggested that Mr. Courant was running illegal operations behind a "front" of apparently respectable companies. He thinks that Mr. Courant had a hand in getting him fired. It seems that he wants the Vane family out of Foxley Park, also. Perhaps Mr. Vane's investigations were getting too close for comfort.

Anyway, quite apart from Mr. Courant, the Vanes have to leave and they sell up and move to that smaller house in Vermont: "The Haven." They have a nasty surprise when they get there. It has been vandalized.

The Vanes get moral support from Bill, the owner of the nearby convenience store-cum-restaurant, which is called "The Old Schooner." At "The Old Schooner" they come across a boy of Casey's age called Andrew Green. Andrew is a precocious model-maker whose speciality is radio-controlled airplanes. He comes to the Haven and demonstrates one of his models. The children become friendly and they take a boat trip together downriver and into the great lake that is nearby. They row round an island that they used to visit, but have an unexpected and unpleasant encounter with two men from the island who come out in a power boat.

February 2016

When Mr. Vane hears about the unpleasant encounter he contacts the new owner of the island, which is a company called Viper Holdings. This is one of Mr. Courant's companies, and the Vanes are very surprised when Mr. Courant phones them to apologize and to invite them to visit the island as his guests. They accept and have a good time. However, when they return to the Haven they find that it has been vandalized again. Mr. Courant is full of helpful concern, but the Vanes begin to think that he was actually behind it. He wants Mr. Vane to leave the area.

Andrew Green has sent a model airplane over the island with a movie camera aboard and gets back pictures that show a man held at gunpoint, and also a "model airplane" that is so large that it raises questions.

There is definitely something sinister happening on the island, and the Vanes wonder what to do. They decide to throw Mr. Courant off the scent by seeming to accept his offer of a job elsewhere. Mr. and Mrs. Vane leave the children at the Haven while they go on a visit to be interviewed for a job.

May 2016

A visitor comes to visit Casey and Amber while they are on their own in the haven. He says that he is an FBI contact of Mr. Vane's, and he worms a lot of information out of them about Andrew, and about what they know in general. After he has left the children attempt to contact their parents, but they cannot. They try to phone Andrew but receive a worrying answer. They set out in their canoe to go to his house via the river. They try to raise him on his mobile phone but cannot. They are able to track his position, though, and find that he is on a launch that is passing them in the opposite direction. They track it (and Andrew) to the island. Andrew is taken into the house. Casey and Amber try to rescue him but are caught themselves. Mr. Courant arranges that all three children shall perish in an "accidental" fire at the old house. However, unknown to Courant, they escape the fire and make their way back down to the secret complex that lies below the hosue. It has been evacuated and is now empty, except for the imprisoned scientist. The three children manage to release him and get him into the tunnel that connects the island to the mainland.