Sudden Death (Striker) by Nick Hale

Sudden Death (Striker) by Nick Hale
Buy Sudden Death (Striker) by Nick Hale at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Teens
Reviewer: Robert James
Summary: Fantastic opener to a new series combining Stormbreaker-style action and football.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 336	Date: June 2010
Publisher: Egmont Books Ltd
ISBN: 978-1405249508
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Jake Bastin, son of famous former footballer Steve, thought his life was difficult enough even before his father enters negotiations to join St Petersburg’s newest football team as manager. But when the agent his dad’s discussing the move with collapses of a suspected heart attack, things get far more complicated – because Jake is convinced he was actually poisoned, and can’t understand why his dad seems happy to go along with a cover up. As the pair move to St Petersburg, the bodies start piling up, and Jake goes from having to fight to control his temper, to fight to save his life. With no way of knowing if he can trust anyone, even his own father, can the youngster stand up to criminals who are happy to kill to get what they want?

From reading the blurb about this book, I was expecting half Alex Rider, half Mark Fox (main character in a Michael Hardcastle series of football books in the late seventies and early eighties.) What we actually get is much more action-orientated than I was expecting, with Jake’s own football prowess taking a definite back seat to his growth as an action hero. Still, that’s certainly not a criticism – just an observation – and this fast moving thriller had me hooked from start to finish! Jake is a brilliant hero, likeable and well-developed, and the other characters are really interestingly drawn. I had no idea, when I was two thirds of the way through, who would turn out to be a good guy and who would turn out to be a criminal, but the eventual explanations made perfect sense and tied things up nicely.

This seems to be Nick Hale’s first book and he’s immediately established himself as an author I’d love to read more of – starting with Close Range, the sequel to this book, which will be out in September 2010. He’s got a clear, crisp, writing style and fits a huge amount of action into the book with lots of cliffhangers – I found it practically impossible to put down and I’m sure most teenage boys, the main target audience, will be equally gripped! I was also impressed that the violence was reasonably restrained in the way it’s described – despite the deaths and fight scenes, there’s nothing much here I’d be hesitant about passing on to a young secondary school pupil. I hope this is the start of a long-running series as I think it will draw in numerous reluctant readers as well as many fans of established authors like Anthony Horowitz and Robert Muchamore.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.

Further reading suggestion: For another really exciting opening to a series, most children who like this book will also really enjoy The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klavan.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Sudden Death (Striker) by Nick Hale at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Sudden Death (Striker) by Nick Hale at Amazon.com.

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