The Medusa Project: Double Cross by Sophie McKenzie
| The Medusa Project: Double Cross by Sophie McKenzie | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Linda Lawlor
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| Summary: Four teenagers with psychic abilities are framed for murder. In order to find evidence of their innocence they have to travel to the other side of the world – but even there they meet with betrayal and double cross. And something else – the possibility that they may not be the only Medusa teens. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 240 | Date: June 2011 |
| Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0857070692 | |
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Each of the 'Medusa Project' books is narrated by one of the teens involved in turn, and this time it is Nico who is the first person speaker. Things are not going well for the group: their former mentor Geri has just tried to kill them, and by using all her government and police contacts she has managed to make it look as if they are guilty of murder. The four teens' psychic abilities allow them to escape to France, and now they need to work out how to stop Geri and clear their names. But things just get worse and worse: the strain of their situation and the introduction of new characters start to pull the group apart just at the time when they need to trust each other the most.
Dylan is surly and impatient, ready to launch headlong into a revenge attack because she has discovered that Geri murdered her parents. Nico's girlfriend Ketty seems much too friendly with a new Medusa called Cal, Ed has family problems to worry him, and Ketty is so stressed that she is unable to use her power of precognition, just at the time when they could really use it. Mistrust, blind jealousy and an unwillingness to trust each other so they can work as a team make their new challenge all the more difficult, and further revelations about the Medusa project put the whole group in deadly danger yet again.
If this is your first 'Medusa Project' book, you should have no trouble in picking up the main threads of the story. It is no mean feat to introduce enough back story for new readers without boring those who have been with the series since the beginning, but Sophie McKenzie manages it with apparent ease. Particularly useful is the fact that like any other teenager Nico spends a good deal of time brooding over his romantic problems, giving us plenty of opportunities to look back and see how the group got to this point (although you may find you want to give him a good smack now and again for being such a jerk!). What is more, this book is more centred on plot than the earlier ones, which needed to establish the situation, the protagonists' characters and their relationships with other people and each other, and the plot gallops along at breakneck speed as the group find themselves in one life-threatening situation after another. Revelations about the past abound, and more than one person turns out not to be who they seem.
Many people reading this series will be left with an intriguing question as they close each book. The Medusa gene affects each person differently, depending on their personality. Nico is brash and confident, and his power is all about manipulating solid objects. Ed is gentle and sensitive, a constant target for bullies, and his power relates to mind-reading. Dylan's aggression has given her the power to protect herself from danger, and single-minded, independent Ketty sees into the future. So - if you, the reader, had been given the Medusa gene at birth, which ability would you develop?
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
Further reading suggestion: This is the fifth volume in the Medusa series: check out Bookbag's reviews of The Hostage, The Rescue and Hunted. And if you want more thrilling tales of teens with a secret, try Blood Ties and Blood Ransom by the same author, about genetic manipulation and cloning.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Medusa Project: Double Cross by Sophie McKenzie at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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