BOOK REVIEW | AGENT 21: CODEBREAKER – CHRIS RYAN

Secret agent Zac Darke is back for his third mission – and the stakes have never been higher.

An unknown bomber is conducting a terror campaign in London. After an explosion on the tube leaves someone dead, Zac and his team are brought in to try and work out how this terror cell operates – but clues are scarce and they have no idea where, or when, the bomber will strike next. A teenage boy, currently detained in a young offender’s institute, claims he has the answer – but before Zac can question him, the boy is shot and falls into a coma. Will Zac be able to break the cipher before the bomber strikes again? – Amazon description

The book gripped me right from the first page. After the inconsistencies and eye-rolling involved in reading the last book, however, I was wary of trusting it.

But as chapter after chapter passed and the story kept moving at a the same pace, I realized that not only was this better than the last Agent 21 book, but is was my favourite of the Agent 21 series so far.

First off, it’s set in London, my favourite city in the world. But even better, it’s exactly the kind of covert thriller storyline I love. It almost reminded me of the British spy show, Spooks (also known as MI-5, and if you’re into this sort of thing and haven’t watched it, you really should). There may even be some parallels to that most epic of spies:

There were codes hidden in plain sight, seemingly innocent bystanders being picked off left and right, a mad, intelligent bomber running rampant on the streets of London and a race against time to save one final, high profile target. There weren’t any Bond girls, but hey, Darke’s only 15. He’s got a few years to grow into the full Bond persona.

I got through this book in just a few days (while I was supposed to be finishing about 5 other books, I may add) and it was over quickly. The suspense did keep up through the whole book, there were some great twists, and some really interesting characters and plot points. I got to the end surprised I was on the last page already.

Which is always the sign of a good, edge-of-your-seat story.

For fans of YA thrillers, this is a good one to pick up!