When his father goes missing, Max Gordon, a clever British teen, finds himself embroiled in a fiendish plot with an ecological slant. Max’s quest for his father leads him from Europe to Africa, where he meets Kallie, a headstrong young aviator and !Koga, a bushman boy who may be the only one who can lead Max through the unforgiving South African terrain. Through shrewd detective work, Max discovers that his father is mixed up in the despicable plot of the diabolical Shaka Chang, a plot that could kill thousands of innocent people. Can Max stop Chang in time and save his father and the others? Gilman, a former television writer from the United Kingdom, presents this first book in a series pitched directly to the throngs of Alex Rider fans. Although well-paced and action-packed, Gilman’s narration lays it on thick with elaborately descriptive language that at times borders on florid. Still, this will probably serve Horowitz’s readers well enough while they await the next in the series. (Thriller. YA)
