Jake Highfield: Chaos Unleashed

ok

very very good read and I am 70

I was intrigued by this item to say the least. I am a great fan of the so called 'young spy' type genre, and have read a number of different examples of this form of writing. The leader of the pack so to speak is the well loved Alex Rider series, and inevitably any book that falls within to this area will be compared to it. Whether this is favourable or not depends on whether the book can match the excitement that comes from reading entries in that series. Does Alec Sillifant therefore succeed here, and if so, by how much?Briefly, the book tells the story of Jake Highfield. Jake is a tearaway with few prospects and little respect for authority. His life seems to be going nowhere until he is picked up from his care home by a mysterious man who takes him to the place known only as the Academy, a school for kids who have exhausted all of their other options. In return for their education, the students are taught to be agents and are sent on missions. Jake, under his codename of Chaos, fits right in until one day a mission goes wrong, and suddenly it seems as though the Academy may be turning against him. From then on it's a race for Jake to unravel what is going on, with the help of his friend Angel, before it's too late.This book unfortunately suffers from what a lot of books of this type suffer from. Being the first book of what seems fairly likely to become a series, the book has to spend a fair amount of time establishing the characters and the situation that they are in before any real plot development can occur. This can make the book seem a little slow towards the beginning. However, once the main story gets going, the plot moves at a fairly swift pace with a number of different encounters leading the main character to the final inevitable confrontation with the 'bad guys'. However, it is with its villains that this book really succeeds. Given the way that the plot twists around a fair amount, you are never fully sure exactly who is good and who is bad until nearly the very end, and it is this mystery that makes the book interesting. For the most part the characters are interesting, and it is certainly easy to see how the relationship between Jake and Angel could be further developed in further stories. I would however like to see a little more information about the two in later books, as it is hard to form a connection with the characters when you do not really know them that well.On the whole, this books succeeds in what it sets out to do, which is to be a worthy entry in the teen spy genre that has become so popular in recent years, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the genre, and indeed to anyone who has never sampled this type of book.

A spy academy for teenagers? Every kid's dream of fun?Well, not quite as Jake discovers in this fast paced book, featuring advanced electronic gadgets, a lively girl (Angel) friend and dubious adults that's aimed squarely at kids aged about 12 - 16 (the hero is 14 years old)The plot evolves nicely and the author avoids the trap of talking down to his readers.It's a bit like a young James Bond book but think Sean Connery's harder, darker Bond rather than Roger Moore's more tongue in cheek character.I enjoyed the book an so did my 13 year old son, although he did find it a bit long and 'boring' in parts.

A breeding ground for McNabs and Ryans. St. Margarets is a private boarding school with a difference. Here the pupils not only receive the "3 Rs", but all the necessary education in espionage.Our hero Jake Highfield is a former young offender turned spy and develops backbone into the bargain.Aimed at young teens, this book is in no way childishly written and does not insult the young intelligence. Frankly, I am way past the audience age and thorougly enjoyed it. There is never a dull moment and it is difficult to lay down.The first in a series (I hope), it promises to be as addictive as nicotine.Well worth reading........