From School Library Journal
Grade 7–10—Carl Hobbes, aka James Valentine, aka Finn Carter, is an 18-year-old computer hacker pursued by CIA operatives after being suspected of raiding Fort Knox's gold coffers and escaping from Camp Twilight. He is now leading a playboy existence. Applying for a job at Sphinx Cargo, an ultra-secure storage facility for valuables shipped around the world, Finn plans to lay low in an unassuming job as a night security officer. Living in a cheap apartment with his Fort Knox accomplice Beth Nelson, he knows that they will always be looking over their shoulders. He learns that Sphinx is protected by "Cleopatra," a supercomputer security system able to flush out intruders with visual-recognition markers and motion detection and uses high-pitched frequencies and electrical charges as preemptive assaults. "She" even knows when the security officer is napping. When Beth missteps, a CIA officer and Al-Qaeda operatives who lost a mercenary at Hobbes's hands in a previous episode close in on the Sphinx facility. The pace quickens as Hobbes and Nelson use Cleopatra and all of her technological talents to ward off the assassins, at the expense of the facility and its valuable contents. This is an all-action title, told in the present tense, which may be appealing to reluctant readers who care little about the lack of character development. Fans of Anthony Horowitz and other spy thrillers will latch on to this probable series.—
Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
In this follow-up to Icecore (2007), British computer hacker Carl Hobbes is a fugitive after escaping from a high-security prison, where he was sentenced after becoming embroiled in a plan to rob Fort Knox. A CIA-hired bounty hunter is after him and so is a female al-Qaeda assassin. After landing a job at a tightly guarded warehouse run by a supercomputer named Cleopatra, he figures that he can use his computer skills to manipulate Cleopatra into protecting himself and his friend Beth, the thief. After a slow start, Whyman builds suspense to the final chapters, when the assassin and bounty hunter chase Carl and Beth through the warehouse in scenes that feature rooms sucked dry of oxygen, automatic cannons, and flying knives. At the end, Carl escapes, but he’s still on the run, so expect more adventures. Grades 6-9. --Todd Morning
