The Shadow Project [Hardcover]

Herbie Brennan (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up | Series: Shadow Project

Danny Lipman is a thief . . . until one night he robs the wrong house. He inadvertently breaks into the headquarters of the Shadow Project, a secret government organization where teenage spies are trained to leave their bodies, using astral projection to travel around the world on deadly missions.

Danny is captured, but the Project leaders quickly realize he has a special gift. And when a key operative—the director's daughter, Opal—goes missing, he is offered a choice: join the Shadow Project or go to jail.

Danny joins and is quickly sent to investigate the Project's current target: a worldwide terrorist organization known as the Sword of Wrath. But as he gets deeper in, he discovers both the Project and the Sword of Wrath are far more than they seem. Danny and his fellow operatives are caught up in an ancient supernatural conflict and will have to learn how to survive in a world without boundaries of space or time, where the wrong choice could be their last.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up—Danny Lipman is a young thief who stumbles into a clandestine operation that he does not immediately understand. The staff of the Shadow Project allows him to escape after deciding that he shows natural talent for their work but not before bugging his jacket. Danny soon learns that the project is a joint MI6/CIA venture that makes use of teen operatives to conduct remote viewing, a paranormal activity that allows agents to gather intelligence without risking themselves. Or so they believed. Opal, the director's daughter and a skilled operative in her own right, is somehow detained while on a mission and Danny is brought in to attempt a rescue. He is enticed to work for them, in part by their promise to provide the best possible care for his Nan, who has just had a stroke. From that point, nothing proceeds as Danny or anyone involved in the Shadow Project imagined. Given the number of spy novels and those on the entire spectrum of the paranormal battling for spots on young adult reading lists, this book was probably inevitable. It's exciting, has a good range of characters, an appealing cover, and also feels like a series opener, also inevitably. It should have broad appeal.—Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In this sf-fantasy thriller, a (literally) underground British government program, in conjunction with the CIA, uses astral projection to spy on the world’s most fearsome terrorist network, the Sword of Wrath. The YA hook is that teenagers—more nimble-brained than adults—are the best candidates for such work, so readers are introduced to Danny, a thief with a heart of gold and natural psychic abilities; Opal, the daughter of a Shadow Project muckety-muck; and Michael, a hunky prince from Mali. Brennan dutifully constructs a light crush triangle between the three teens, but that falls mostly by the wayside in favor of some terrific action sequences. It may sound strange to say about a book whose central conceit is built around out-of-body experiences, but in the second half of the book, Brennan really gets out there with a fuzzy but compelling mix of Middle Eastern occultism, Knights Templar mythology, and a couple different planes of reality. Heady, yes, but never so heavy that it topples the swiftly paced paranormal thrill ride. Fans of Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider books should be right at home. Grades 6-9. --Ian Chipman

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Balzer + Bray; 1 edition (December 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061756423
• ISBN-13: 978-0061756429
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,365,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A professional writer whose work has appeared in more than fifty countries, Herbie Brennan is enjoyed by children and adults alike -- sales of his books already exceed 7.5 million copies.

Herbie has an well-established career writing for the children's market -- from picture books to teenage fiction, from game books to school curriculum non-fiction. His keen eye for novelty, both in technology and market development, made him among the very first writers to create adventure gamebooks and his GrailQuest series was an international bestseller.

His teenage novel, Faerie Wars, also rocketed to international success, achieving best-seller status in more than 20 overseas editions, and was voted No 1 Top Ten Teenage Pick in the United States and listed as a New York Times Best Seller title.

Equally prolific in the adult market, Herbie has a powerful reputation for challenging conventional assumptions with penetrating intelligence and a clear, easy style. This is reflected in his interests, which range from transpersonal psychology, spirituality, reincarnation and psychical research to comparative religion and quantum physics. His reappraisal of ancient history has stirred lively debate on TV and radio as well as in the Press. He broadcasts and lectures regularly throughout the UK and Ireland.

Herbie became interested in mysticism as a child and was studying books on the subject virtually from the time he was able to read. He found himself pursuing several unorthodox lines of research, including hypnosis, and actually hypnotised his first subject -- a school friend -- at the age of nine!

He began a journalistic career at eighteen and at twenty-four became the youngest newspaper editor in his native Ireland. His early career path included magazine work, hypnotherapy, counselling, advertising and market¬ing.

His first book, Astral Doorways, an exploration of out-of-body experience, became a specialist best-seller and went on to become a classic in its field -- it is still in print some thirty-five years on.

In his mid twenties, Herbie had his first novel published, an historical romance brought out by Doubleday in New York. At the age of thirty he decided to devote most of his time to writing and has since gone on to produce more than 100 books, many of them international best-sellers.

When he can be persuaded to take a break from his writing, Herbie give lectures and seminars, which have included modules on reincarnation research, the astral plane, dreamwork, healing, spiritual development, psychical research, quantum physics and magical training..

With a background that includes writing for radio, the creation of boxed games and computer software, perhaps his greatest strength lies in the realm ideas, particularly in the diversification of publishing product into allied fields like audio and CD-ROM.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read, September 7, 2010

By 

Mundie Moms/Mundie Kids "Katieb" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shadow Project (Hardcover)

If you like a little thriller, mixed in with paranormal activity and a CIA and MI-6 match up, then The Shadow Project is a must read for you. The Shadow Project has the CIA and MI-6 teamed up together to not only track terror suspects, but paranormal activity that has been going on with a particular terror cell. This activity has it's terror coming from the astral plane and the likely candidates to reach it are three teenagers.

I liked that it's fiction mixed with a little bit of fact. While I was a little lost when I first started the book, I quickly realized there a few character voices who tell story. I like that each chapter is titled with the character's name, so you know who's telling the story. I didn't mourn the fact that I didn't feel a connection to the characters, as the story is non stop action and quickly flew by.

I did like Danny, the main character. He's a bit of a broken boy who's grown up with his Nan, who's just suffered a major stroke. I do love her character, as you get to know more about her in the book. Danny has taken to being a thief, which is how he stumbles upon the hide out of the project. Danny isn't just some street smart kid who's had his fair share of fights, he's also very intelligent and was recently accepted to Cambridge University. He also has a gift which is needed in aiding MI-6 and the CIA. He has no idea what he's gotten himself into when MI-6 offers him a deal he can't refuse.

I don't know if I'd classify this book as sci-fi, action, paranormal, or mystery. Having this mix made for a quick, easy read that I enjoyed more than I had anticipated. With the very mild language and the fast pace action, I think this a book those 12 and older would enjoy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exelent, April 26, 2010

By 

Mary-louise Broe - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Shadow Project (Hardcover)

This was a great book. The characters were interesting and it sucked me in from the first page. The plot took some unexpected turns. Read it all in 5 hours!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars James Bond lite plus a dash of Paranormal, April 10, 2010

By 

J. Prather (IN USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Shadow Project (Hardcover)

This was an interesting story that I believe will have great appeal to 6th and 7th graders especially. The premise is rather unique in that it offers a combination of a traditional spy thriller, where our young heroes must do battle against terrorists, and a science fiction/fantasy adventure complete with critters that rip off heads and feast on the hearts of their victims. I must admit that I was a bit surprised at the level of mysticism and felt that the narrative got rather muddled up during the second half of the story.

Danny, our lead protagonist is an engaging character; it's obvious that the author has made some efforts to flesh him out by detailing his love for his Nan and his lack of self confidence. Less effort was taken with Opal and Michael and I believe the story suffered a bit for it. If this is a series, I will be interested to see what happens with them.

The combination of science and mysticism and the ensuing confusion of some of the plot elements and the rather grisly scenes would give me caution about recommending this to younger kids. Older middle schoolers should enjoy it however. This book tries to be alot of things and succeeds well enough that I would recommend it to any fan of Alex Rider or the paranormal. I look forward to seeing if Danny, Opal and Michael get to continue their adventures!