I loved this...being able to claim that you're reading a book for school/work but because it's by one of your adult favourite authors you get just as much enjoyment from it!
Action, adventure, thrills on every page...comparisons to Horowitz's Alex Rider are a compliment but a well-deserved one, as young hero Jack Courtney more than holds his own against opposition including Somalian pirates, gang-lords and mercenaries in this page-turner for YA. All the Wilbur Smith elements - action, foreign settings, evil bad-guys and dangerous situations are here, and will be throrughly enjoyed by younger thrill-seekers!
I'd hesitate to recommend for younger than y7 during to the child-soldier themes, kidnap, threat and violence, but to these emerging readers this will be magnetic reading...they'll be hooked, and it'sa great stepping stone to other of the same ilk...Cussler, Bond etc. Use with mature Y6 with care and caution.
Thank you to Piccadilly Press for the advance review copy of this - this is the second in a series featuring Jack Courtney, and i will definitely be looking out for more! (This one is out 4th March 2021)
See what Book 1 is about with a Q and A with Chris Wakling in this clip:
Find out more:
Piccadilly Press: @PiccadillyPress (an imprint of @Bonnier), instagram.com/piccadilly.press/ and piccadillypress.co.uk/
Chris Wakling: @chriswakling
Wilbur Smith: @thewilbursmith and wilbursmithbooks.com/books/thunderbolt2
Review by Rich Simpson (@richreadalot) February 2021