Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Payback
Fiction Series
For ages 12 and up
Random House UK, 2005 ISBN: 978-0385609432
Six months have passed since Fergus Watts and his grandson fled England. Now they are trying to keep a low profile living in Spain hoping that Fergus' old boss, George Fincham does not find them. A high ranking officer in MI6, Fincham once was Fergus' office in the SAS but he turned traitor cooperating with Colombian drug lords to bring enormous amounts of cocaine into Britain. Fincham made a fortune and now the government wants to get their hands on that money. They also want Fincham silenced. They are hoping that Fergus Watts will provide them with the ammunition that they need to bring Fincham down once and for all. Of course they need to catch Fergus and Danny first and to do this they need bait.
Fincham's ruthless and ambitious second-in-command, Marcie Deveraux, is in charge of bringing her boss down and she decides to use Danny's best friend Elena to get Danny to come back to England. Her plan works and Fergus and Danny agree to return to England. Once they get back, they quickly realize that Marcie is not to be trusted and they slip through her fingers. They work best on their own and they realize that their only hope is to get the evidence on Fincham themselves. Perhaps then they will have some leverage, something that they can use to keep themselves, and Elena, alive.
This second book in the Danny Watts series is just as gripping and fast paced as the first one was. Once again Danny and his grandfather are having to run for their lives but this time they are also trying to find some way to fight back, to protect themselves. The relationships between Danny and his grandfather and Danny and Elena also evolve further and we discover that hard, tough ex-SAS Fergus Watts has a soft place after all.
Well written and highly entertaining, this is a compelling high adventure tale.
