adventurous dark tense fast-paced
Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
CAWPILE score: 3.14 (22/70), Okay
FRTC ( )

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4

CW: racism, extremism, suicide bombers/terrorists

Well that was an exhilarating ride!

This fast paced thriller, whilst unrealistic, was incredibly engaging and I think it will be popular in the high school library I work at. I would have to say this is absolutely my favourite YA book by Alan Gratz. I look forward to recommending this in my booktalks. ( )

I would definitely recommend this story to an adolescent male who thinks they don't like to read. It's fast-paced, engaging and unpredictable.
At first, I thought it was going to just be a story about a boy who had to deal with the aftermath of having a brother labelled as a terrorist. But then the story became more of an adventure and had an Alex Rider feel to it as Kamran was catapulted into trying to help discover the truth about his brother. Loved the action and the thrills in this story even though I did find much of it quite unbelievable. The idea of a seventeen year old participating alongside an elite strike team was hard to imagine but I think young boys will enjoy it nonetheless. ( )

Good book!! ( )

Kamran Smith is a typical American high school achiever: football team star, dating popular girl, preparing to apply to military academy after graduation, and.... he's also half Iranian. His brother Darius, US Army Ranger, serves in Afghanistan, but suddenly appears on a series of videos, making terrorist threats against America. Kamran is stunned: either his brother "turned" and became a radical Muslim helping Al Qaeda, or he's been captured and used as a pawn to broadcast their serious threats. Dept of Homeland Security visits their home, the media descends, his military academy recommend is rescinded, and then all three: mom, dad and Kamran are put into isolated custody, grilled by the CIA, etc. This drastic gov't response was the first "huh??" for me; would this be the real response of our gov't to Americans' civil rights - detaining all three (including a minor) for months?? But the plot moves forward nonetheless.
Kamran stubbornly believes his brother has NOT been "turned" and is determined to clear his name; when he re-watches the videos, he begins to hear messages, code words that only he, little brother, would recognize from their childhood, playing "kill the bad guys" scenarios. One agent begins to listen to Kamran, and together they begin to scrutinize every video sent out, passing on clues to DHS, & other authorities. Action packed scenes follow in one chapter after another,as Kamran becomes part of a team effort by undercover DHS agents to foil the plots of this terrorist group AND try to locate & rescue his brother. Read and enjoyed several of Alan Gratz's books, but his over-dependence on narrator interior dialogue, esp questions, begins to drag down the exposition. The unreal escapades, escapes, and involvement of a 17 yr old boy with strike teams, escaping a top security site, etc becomes unbelievable but will certainly be a thrilling story to many a middle school/high school reader, with a satisfying conclusion. ( )