nerfherder86 's review for:

Outlaw by Stephen Davies

4.0

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Another fun ride of a book, with a lot of current world affairs details and situations to make it more realistic. When fifteen year old Jake is suspended from school and sent back to live with his parents and younger teen sister, he's not going home to a boring suburb: his dad's the British Ambassador to Burkina Faso, in Africa! Jake and his sister are fluent in French and other languages, and love the multicultural craziness of this country; Jake feels at home riding his father's motorcycle past crowded marketplaces, etc. This is good, because when he and his sister are kidnapped by a notorious outlaw, he'll need all his wits and knowledge of the local ways to survive and escape. But not everything's as it seems when another outlaw saves them from the first outlaw, who was impersonating the second outlaw! Okay that was a confusing way to put it, but trust me it works in the story and you'll be on the edge of your seat. There are fascinating details about life in the desert, for rich and poor, and some high-tech spy gadgets come into play--I hate the new cover, though, because showing the beetle tells you nothing about the story that is important until later. Sigh. Ignore the boring beetle cover and give this a try if you like adventure and humor--the author is definitely a fan of action movie quips and situations. great for middle schoolers and up.