The Devil's Breath (Danger Zone) [Hardcover]

David Gilman (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 11 and up | Grade Level: 6 and up | Series: Danger Zone

WHEN AN ASSASSIN bursts from the shadows to try to kill him on the dark, windswept grounds of his boarding school in England, Max Gordon realizes his life is about to change forever.

After learning that his explorer father is missing, Max is determined to find him, no matter what dangers may lay in his path. A secret clue his father left behind leads Max to the inhospitable wilderness of Namibia, where he soon discovers a potentially massive ecological disaster masterminded by Shaka Chang, a very powerful and completely ruthless man—a man Max fears may have put his father in mortal danger. Max needs all the help he can get. Because whoever is behind his father’s disappearance is determined to get rid of Max, too. For good.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6–9—Tom Gordon is missing and presumed dead. Now his 15-year-old son, Max, must leave England and go to the wilds of Namibia to search for him. His father is no stranger to danger because it is his job to seek out and expose corporations and governments that are damaging the environment. This time the bad guy has been polluting the water supply by dumping a pharmaceutical's excess drugs, thus saving the expense of properly disposing of them. Tom Gordon has uncovered the illegal activities and has been taken captive. Max is aided in his search by Sayid, his boarding-school friend and a computer whiz; a 17-year-old female pilot; and a Bushman boy. The characters are likable, and it is interesting to read about the clicking language of the Bushmen people, but the story alternates between two locations with sometimes abrupt transitions, which could make following it a bit frustrating for younger readers. However, the action starts on page one and it never lets up. Max faces swarms of monkeys, bad guys, poison arrows, extreme weather, and starvation; is forced to learn to fly a plane; and has the momentous shape-shifting experience of turning into an eagle. Students who are able to sort out the locations and intricate plot will be rewarded with a rip-roaring ride of an adventure.—Jake Pettit, Thompson Valley High School Library, Loveland, CO
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From Booklist

The boarding school that 15-year-old Max Gordon attends is already a bit mysterious—it seems every student is a budding 007 or Indiana Jones—but the mystery kicks into higher gear when Max barely eludes an assassin’s bullet. In a setup worthy of Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider, Max soon finds that his father, himself a globe-trotting adventurer, has gone missing in the Namibian desert. Max is instantly on the trail, teaming with a young Bushman named !Koga to survive the dangers of the wilderness and defeat ecological tragedy at the hand of the insidious Shaka Chang. The action is relentless: car chases spill over into hand-to-hand combat, cataclysmic weather breaks only to reveal killer scorpions (or baboons or crocodiles). Gilman has a flair for making the preposterous seem possible. It helps that he gives Max plenty of mental and physical bruises along the way, and keeps his adult characters every bit as sharp as his hero. This is the first in a planned series of Max Gordon books appearing under the moniker of “Danger Zone.” Grades 7-12. --Daniel Kraus

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (September 23, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038573560X
• ISBN-13: 978-0385735605
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1.3 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,545,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, March 29, 2009

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil's Breath (Danger Zone) (Hardcover)

Max Gordon is on the run.

He was almost killed by an assassin, his dad has been kidnapped, and he only has one clue as to where he is. Still, he is determined to find him no matter what kind of danger faces him.

With the one clue he is given, he figures out that his father is in the deserts of Namibia exploring a company that is about to hurt thousands of people. Those people know that Max's dad has found evidence against them and think that Max has knowledge of this evidence, as well. While he is on the mission to find his father, regardless of the evidence, the company is determined to kill Max.

Max is aided with the help of Koga, a local bushmen, who has a very keen sense of the wild; Kallie van Reenen, a local girl who has a great knowledge of planes and the sky; and his best mate back in England. All three of these people form Max's support system as he embarks on the most grueling adventure imaginable, all in search of his father.

Will Max be able to beat the odds and survive - or will his captors get the better of him?

THE DEVIL'S BREATH is an action-packed book that any reader will find hard to put down. With every page turned, you don't know what's coming next, and you're on the edge of your seat. Throughout the book, you hear the story from different perspectives, whether it be the main story from Max, the antagonist's point of view, and even sometimes the story is heard from Max's two friends, who are helping him with his search to find his father. I thought that the use of alternating perspectives was interesting, but at times it got confusing because some of the characters sounded the same.

While the author did a great job building up the book with lots of suspense, I did find parts of the story to be very predictable and not that interesting. Other parts of the book, though, definitely made up for this, and I found myself intrigued.

At times the book got a bit violent, which I didn't think was necessary, but it may have been appreciated more by the male readership. Despite this fact, I think THE DEVIL'S BREATH would be a good read for all teens, and it was a good start to a potentially thrilling series.

Reviewed by: Tasha

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jonny Quest on steroids - rollicking good fun, July 3, 2009

By 

M. Knapp "Maggie Knapp" (Fort Worth, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Devil's Breath (Danger Zone) (Hardcover)

I don't think this book intends to be anything more (or less) than a rock 'em, sock 'em testosterone-fueled young adult adventure. Author David Gilman updates the Mission: Impossible tape recorder (for those of you who remember "Good morning, Mr. Phelps...")to a USB memory stick MP3 player, and then stirs together a bit of Alex Rider, a bit of Carl Hobbes (Icecore), some of Charles Higson's Young James Bond, Roland Smith's new hero Q, a touch of Artemis Fowl, along with Gilman's own creative additions, to form Max Gordon-- bright, funny, ecologically-savvy and smarter than the bad guys.

The Devil's Breath is an excellent choice for those not quite ready for the 4-letter-words and mature plot themes of adult thrillers, but still wanting action-heavy, techno-laced adventure. Locations such as Wolf's Head Tor, Skeleton Rock and the Valley of Bones give an accurate flavor of this book. There are fork lift chases, car chases, lots of gun chases, terrorists, airplane thrills, a tanned, athletic 17-year-old named named Kallie, SIM cards, missing parents, near drownings, crocodiles and secret codes. And much, much more. Don't read this book with an eye tuned for every predictable peril or some of the "oh, come on now" moments of disbelief. Read it with your seat belt fastened, ready for a thrilling ride.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Action packed novel for Alex Rider fans, December 16, 2008

By 

Library Goddess "Library Goddess" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil's Breath (Danger Zone) (Hardcover)

I enjoyed this immensely- it has all the action of an Alex Rider novel laced with satisfying mysticism of African shamanism. Max's father, ostensible an ecological researcher,disappears at the same time an attempt is made on Max's life. Max needs to disappear and find his dad. Non stop adventure and mystery set in Africa.