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THE THIRTEENTH SKULL by Rick Yancey

THE THIRTEENTH SKULL

Alfred Kropp, Book 3

by Rick Yancey

Pub Date: July 1st, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59990-114-5
Publisher: Bloomsbury

Alfred Kropp, the intrepid descendent of Lancelot, is caught up in his third mission to save the world. Alfred’s magical blood can heal victims’ wounds, a talent targeting him for abduction and use as a government experiment. Yancey (Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon, 2007, etc.) crowds his story with over-the-top chase scenes. He puts his hero on a galloping horse pursued by roaring motorcycles, dangles him by a cable under a soaring helicopter and pushes him down a mountain on an inverted garbage-can lid. The work is soaked with action but characters are cutouts: Jourdain Garmot seeks revenge because Alfred killed his father; Nueve, the new Op Nine (the Office of Interdimensional Paradoxes and Extraordinary Phenomena’s top agent), is suspiciously creepy; blue-eyed Ashley seems too good to be true. Surviving back-to-back-to-back escapes, Alfred realizes he can trust nobody while racing against time to locate Merlin’s 13th crystal skull, an item with the power to destroy the universe. This action novel delivers its advertised thrills, but familiarity with prior titles in the series is helpful. (Fiction. YA)