A brilliant but solitary teenager must unlock ciphers, unearth buried clues, and reckon with the outside world as she pursues an ancient secret in this brainteasing, genre-bending conspiracy thriller.

“A mystery, crime, adventure, and coming-of-age tale all wrapped up in a treasure of a book.”—Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Twyford Code and The Appeal

“A delight for readers who enjoy sifting through clues and poring over evidence alongside the hero, racing to see which of you can crack the mystery first.”—Ernest Cline, bestselling author of Ready Player One

When Arizona learns her mother’s been kidnapped and finds a cryptic test accompanying the ransom note, she has no idea that she’s just been enlisted in a treasure hunt, on the trail of an occult, centuries-old secret her father supposedly took to his grave. And if the prize at the end is real, it could shake the world.

This challenge would be impossible for an ordinary teen. But Arizona is anything but “normal.” An introvert trained by her father to be a brilliant solver of puzzles and codes, she has the skills to meet the challenge set by the kidnappers . . . and spring a few surprises of her own.

Set against the natural grandeur of the Western landscape, Arizona navigates fiendish puzzles, unearthing ancient texts and buried conspiracies while forging unlikely alliances as she learns to navigate the outside world in ways she never has before.

Featuring an indomitable young heroine and a plot that ingeniously weaves together real facts into a treasure hunt of epic proportions, The Language of the Birds is an endlessly surprising adventure that will leave listeners wondering where the truth ends and fiction begins.