From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up–This sequel to
Thieves Like Us (Bloomsbury, 2006) brings back Nathaniel Colhardt and his motley band of thieves-Jonah, Tye, Motti, Con, and Patch-in another Indiana Jones-type adventure. This time, the group is chasing after a long-lost relic–Cortes's sword, which was used to conquer and destroy the Aztec people. Then Tye is kidnapped by the mysterious Sixth Sun, a group that is also after the sword. Jonah must gather all his skills as a code breaker to beat the Sixth Sun to the weapon, rescue Tye, and, with the rest of the band, fight a battle of good and evil. Lots of action and suspense grab teens' attention from the start; chapters are short and paced to keep even the most reluctant readers on the edge of their seats.–
Lori E. Donovan, Thomas Dale High School, Chester, VA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
"Do we work for the boss, or does he own us?" The teen outlaws who first appeared in
Thieves like Us (2006) return for another round of life-threatening adventures carried out in the service of their employer, Nathaniel Coldhardt, a shadowy billionaire who traffics in ancient artifacts, "which more often than not held the key to secret, spooky mysteries." This time, the team races to find a buried Aztec temple before it falls into the hands of a nefarious cult with apocalyptic goals. As in the first title, the formula mirrors an entertaining action movie. The characters (particularly the villains) are stock, and the dialogue is rife with cliches ("I think we've got company," one teen says during a chase scene). Cole breaks up the nearly nonstop action with sexual innuendo, but there's not much follow-through. The page-turning mystery's fun comes from the terrifying escapes, clever gadgetry and detailed Aztec lore, and, of course, the central cast of death-defying teen savants who discover that home is wherever they are, together.
Gillian EngbergCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
