Whirlwind is the fifth book in the Dreamhouse Kings series that begins just where the previous book, Timescape ended. A very anxious Xander and David King are trapped in the house of the ancient assassin, separated from each other, and both quite certain that they are going to die. After some very courageous and quick-thinking moves, they both manage to escape with a few new bruises and scrapes, but with a deeper insight into just how evil and depraved their nemesis really is. Yet this latest brush with death only emboldens them to work harder and smarter to make sense of the house of dark shadows and to rescue their mother from whatever time and place now holds her captive.The King boys ultimately gain a deeper appreciation that their being brought to this house at this point in time is not just due to a decision by their father to search for his kidnapped mother. It is not just about the present search for their own mother. It is not some thrill ride to see how close to death they can actually position themselves and still escape. They begin to truly understand and embrace their legacy, their birthright, their destiny as gatekeepers. Not only are they to regulate who has access to the time portals, but they are to use them to correct the wrongs and mistakes of the past. The boys have already gotten a sense of this when they find out a girl they rescued from the Nazis went on to develop the vaccine for smallpox and when they saved the life of U.S. general Ulysses S. Grant. Their direct actions have resulted in the saving of several million lives!
Now the race is on to outwit the assassin and affect the past to avoid the bleak future that they have already witnessed in the trip to the future world. However, nothing ever seems to come easily and there is seemingly a heavy price to pay for every inch that they gain. As Whirlwind comes to a crescendo, the boys find out they have gone through a portal and ended up in Atlantis. They also learn that the assassin had his ogre henchman bring their mother there as a slave gift to the royalty in order to gain their favor. Now on to the conclusion of the Dreamhouse Kings series, "Frenzy".
