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Storm: The Infinity Code


STORM: THE INFINITY CODE; E. L. Young; New York: Dial, 2008; 311 pgs. Upper Middle School/Young Adult


Will Knight, a brilliant young inventor, is staying with a family friend because his father is dead and his mother has gone to Russia to stay with Will's grandmother. Usually a loner, he meets a girl at school who has seen him trying out his reverse rappelling invention and now wants him to join STORM, a secret organization of teens working to right the wrongs of the world. At first Will blows them off: Gaia, Andrew, and sometimes Caspian, but when Caspian's father is kidnapped and taken to Russia to work on a secret weapon that could destroy the planet, Will is all in. Fans of the Alex Ryder series will love this new high-octane thriller for teens--wicked science, boffo gadgets (for instance, the live "robot" mouse, and the "fly spy"),and explosions. The author, a science writer from Australia, explains in an appendix everything in the book that is based on scientific fact, and what might be possible given the right circumstances, in the future. Young's characters are engaging and the book is a first-rate thriller for sixth graders on up.

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