Trigger warnings: Hostage situation

7/10, this was a unique, and enjoyable thriller novel, with a touch of sci-fi, a great novel from Jack Heath. The premise of the novel was very interesting, but simple, just rescue an agent from the enemy country and bring her back to the home country, but it was executed well. There were two countries called Besmar and Kamau, they had tensions with each other and were close to declaring war, interestingly, they were between Russia and Ukraine, and it reminded me of the Ukraine War. The story was very action-packed, however, the characters needed some work, especially Cormanenko, who was just a Mary Sue. The terrorist plan was to bomb Kamau using underground trains and release a coronavirus pandemic (that sounds familiar), however, it was actually just gassing the whole population. Towards the end, there was a long chase scene with a helicopter and a flying motorbike across the Dead Zone, but I thought how did this not attract international media attention? The only reason this whole story worked was that the main character, Fero, looked just like an enemy figure named Troy, the last thing he did was to prove he was actually Troy and not Fero, and the whole story just ended on a cliffhanger, so exciting! Definitely recommended if you want an action-packed story, and espionage. ( )

14 year old Fero looks identical to a jailed terrorist from a neighboring country, so when he is arrested at a protest rally, the cops think he has escaped. He is interrogated by the Head of the country's secret service known as the Librarians and found to not be the infamous terrorist and subsequently let go. But then the very next day he is picked up in a black car, shown some very cool gadgets, given weapons training and sent on a secret mission into the neighboring hostile country. There he must pretend to be Troy (the terrorist) and infiltrate the group so that he can get a message to one of the Librarian's double agents.
Great fast paced action book for boys set in 2 fictional eastern bloc countries with simmering tensions (Besmar and Kamau). I liked the intrigue and the action though some of it was SO implausible - he catches a train with his bare hands and holds on, makes a bullet proof vest with a phone book and a host of other unlikely scenarios that would have James Bond scratching his head in disbelief. I loved the character of the double agent Cormanenko and the plot twists and turns as you tried to work out which side she is actually on. Did NOT see the ending coming, which, to me, is the sign of a well written plot ( apart from the impossible stunts!)
There is a sequel coming out in 2016. (Reviewed for the Challenge). ( )