Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Avenger
Fiction Series
For ages 12 and up
Random House UK, 2006 ISBN: 978-0385608053
Since their last adventure together Danny, Danny’s grandfather Fergus, and Danny’s friend Elena have been reluctantly working for The Firm. They do not trust their handler, Marcie Deveraux, one little bit and they can only hope that she will free them once they have done what she asks. The task in hand is to do what they can to help The Firm identify who Black Star, the terrorist mastermind, is. Black Star uses disillusioned young people to perpetrate suicide attacks on non-military targets. Elena once got help from Black Star over the Internet when Danny was in trouble, though at the time she did know who he was. Now she has renewed the relationship in an effort to get Black Star to tell her about himself. However, he is far too cautious and Elena is now in the position where she is going to have to masquerade as one of his willing bomb carriers.
Danny is quite enjoying his training with The Firm and does not notice how hard this mission is for Elena. He is far too engrossed in learning how to tail people, how to successfully pull of a brush contact, and more. His grandfather however, is very worried about the coming ordeal and not trusting Deveraux, he starts to make some arrangements of his own.
At last the time arrives. Black Star arranges for Elena to go to New York City and being as careful as they can, Danny and Deveraux watch over her. Danny follows Elena around the city while Deveraux’s people try to figure out where Black Star is by looking for the receiver for the devices that he set up in Elena’s hotel room to watch her. As Elena begins to collect the materials to make the bomb Danny gets more and more anxious. Will they find Black Star quickly enough and will he, Danny, be able to keep Elena safe?
Together Andy McNab and Robert Rigby create thrilling books which will delight fans of spy novels. Unlike some books in this genre, these stories do not glamorize the deadly world of espionage. Good people die, the line between the good guys and the bad ones is often blurry, and Danny and his friends never know when someone is going to turn on them. Readers should prepare themselves for a very unexpected ending.