Customer Reviews

Sure Fire

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A life can be changed in a split second. For 15-year-old twins Rich and Jade, the death of their mother in a tragic car accident has uncovered a surprising secret. On the day of her funeral, a professional-looking man named John Chance introduces himself and claims to be their father. The twins are skeptical about how much Chance is willing to be a family man and wonder if they ever will have a proper family again.

Shortly after moving into Chance's flat, Rich and Jade discover --- as they predicted --- that Chance isn't really ready to look after his children and seems quite content being a bachelor. He announces that he is sending them to separate boarding schools for at least one term. Rich (bookish and laid-back) and Jade (willful and health-conscious) are also taken aback by Chance's living situation, his habits and his secretive manner when asked about his career. Nothing is what it seems, however, when the siblings witness their father being kidnapped after following him one evening.

As they try to determine where and for what reason their dad was taken, Rich and Jade learn that he has been involved in espionage, working undercover to figure out the plan of a Russian baron named Vishinsky and put a stop to his greed. However, the twins don't know who to trust and may have been made the next target in the dangerous game that is rapidly unfolding around them.

SURE FIRE is the first young adult novel from bestselling author Jack Higgins, in collaboration with Justin Richards. Unfortunately, I figured out the prized item that was being sought after within the first few chapters, so I wasn't at all surprised by the plot twist. However, I was glad that I continued reading the book, because even if a few of the bad guys' personas seem a bit stereotypical, there are characters like Halford who are interesting and great action scenes, including a few explosions, along with some comedic moments.

Will there be another novel with the Chance family and their associates? I would like to think so. All in all, SURE FIRE is a quick read that will no doubt interest fans of thrillers and mysteries.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Sawtelle

"Rich felt his insides turn to water as the man introduced himself. John Chance, he said. I'm your father." Rich and Jade Chance are stunned when their long lost father shows up at their mother's funeral. This book makes you appreciate how important family really is.

Sure Fire is an adventure novel by Jack Higgins with Justin Richards. As Rich and Jade travel from London to Krejikistan, they learn more about their Dad, and each other. In the world of spies, no one is who they appear to be. Rich and Jade struggle to learn who they can trust, and who they cannot. This is an exiting book and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good thriller.

This a great thriller especially for young readers. It's maybe a little tame for true Jack Higgins fans. But it's worth reading. It starts out with Jade and Rich who is trying to recover from their mother death.But only to discover that their dad John Chance is a spy. And their lives as well as their dad may be in danger. It is suspenseful and full of action.

" Rich felt his insides turn to water as the man introduced himself. John Chance, he said. I'm your father." Jack Higgins and Justin Richards write on page 5 of Sure Fire.

Sure fire is about 15 year old twins Rich and Jade Chance, who live in Manchester, England. When their mother is killed in a car accident, their long lost father shows up to take them home. He seems very suspicious and when Rich and Jade see him get kidnapped, they set out on a dangerous adventure to save him.

This is a good book for teenagers and anyone looking for a good adventure story. It shows that family is the most important thing of all.

Rich and Jade Chance's mother was hit by a car and died. Both thought they had no other relatives until their father, John Chance, showed up. Jade automatically disliked him. He drank and smoked and had a one bedroom house.

When Rich and Jade witnessed their father being kidnapped, they learned he was a spy. It seems that on his last mission, he stole a sample of oil. When the kidnappers discovered their father didn't have the sample, they turned to Rick and Jade. Now it was up to then to get him back before they are kidnapped too. Unfortunately, they have no idea who to trust.

(Review by Jim, my middle son.)

I got this book for my husband on our wedding anniversary and he is reading it now and thoroughly enjoying it. He is a Jack Higgins fan and had never read this book.

I've been a fan of Jack Higgins for years, since I was a high school kid. Over the past five or six years his writting has become mechanical and formulaic. In his Sean Dillion novels you will find the good guys and the bad guys meeting together at the piano bar in the Dorchester, at least drinking together as they vow to kill each other. He's mined the Rashid thing way too far, and it's obvious that he's become bored with it.

However bringing fresh blood is just what Higgins has needed. When you find a book with a huge name like Higgins at the top and then someone else, the big author is the one who created the outline, and some of the research. But the name in smaller print is the one who did the actual writing. It's a good gambit, because it gives new authors exposure that often they wouldn't get.

Justin Richards does Higgins' plot justice--in big letters. He does a good job of creating a viable reason for the 15-year old twins being pulled into this vortex. His pacing is tight and sure. And he keeps you seeing things through the eyes of the teens, not adults. The combination is perfect for me. It's got Higgins trademark knowledge of weapons and explosives, but not giving all the details that would bore a teen. And the action works.

For me, it's the best thing that has had Higgins' name on it in five or six years.

This was a summer reading assignment for my son, one of half a dozen books from which to choose. He will be in the eighth grade come autumn. The level of language and overly simplified sentence structure appears to be targeted at third graders, though the level of violence is aimed at his age group or above. I am not sure that Jack Higgins did more than stamps his brand name on the cover for salability reasons. I'd be surprised if he Mr. Higgins actually read this tripe. Read this is you must, but there are much better choices out there.

I have to agree with "Rosa Bookworm", this book is not for tried and true Jack Higgins readers. It's a little juvenile and probably good for younger or teenage readers. I have to admit, I was truly disappointed in the book.

After the mother of twins Rich and Jane Chance dies in an accident a guy shows up at the funeral saying that he was their father. The twins go home to the man's London flat and they soon found that he is too distracted by larger goals saving the world to be much of a dad. So the kids are worked into their father's world of international world's oil supply. After their father is kidnapped, the kids race to find him encountering a lot of explosions, gun blasts, and shots to the jaw along the way. People will enjoy the nearly nonstop action offered here even though the oil tank seems designed to create a most of the action so readers wont notice the holes in the plot.