Books The Treasure of Peril Island: An adventure novel for teens by C.W. James (Author)

A penniless young man living on a barge on the Thames in 1903 London, Jack Drayton is unsure of where his life is heading. He’s trying to decide what to do with himself next when he meets a peculiar stranger. Needing a ride to shore one evening, Jack hitches a ride from this stranger, who speaks, dresses, and behaves as though he’s stepped out of another era. After Jack helps the man escape a fracas in town, he tells Jack that he is in fact Black Juan Gaskara, an infamous pirate, and claims that he’s on the run for his life.

Now, that would be all fine and good, except for the fact that the real Black Juan Gaskara would have to be over 112 years old; or more logically, dead.

Despite his disbelief however, Jack is intrigued by the man. Especially when he learns of the treasure that Gaskara has apparently hidden on Peril Island, a place only known to Black Juan.

Before Juan is murdered by descendants of the crew he double-crossed over the loot, he leaves Jack with a cryptogram and map that will reveal where the treasure is hidden. Now it's up to Jack to recover the treasure before Black Juan’s enemies – who wish to use it to set up a global crime empire – get their hands on it first. With his best friend Hector at his side, Jack must venture on the dangerous ocean journey of a lifetime, following the cryptic clues to uncover the treasure before Gaskara’s foes put an end to his search…and his life!