Jimmy Coates: Assassin? - Softcover

Craig, Joe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060772654 ISBN 13: 9780060772659

Publisher: Trophy Pr, 2006

Synopsis

Who—or what—is Jimmy Coates?

Eleven-year-old Jimmy is on the run. The good news is that he has some sweet new abilities that let him outrun, outjump, and outkick anybody—even adults. The bad news is that the mysterious organization that kidnapped Jimmy's parents is after him and he has no idea why. Except that it might have something to do with his new fighting capabilities. And the fact that he might not be entirely human. . . .

About this title

About the Author:

Joe Craig is a twenty-six-year-old philosophy graduate of Cambridge University. His debut novel, Jimmy Coates: Assassin?, has been included in the New York Public Library's Books for the Teen Age list. In addition to writing, he is a composer, jazz pianist, and singer-songwriter. Joe Craig lives in London.

From Booklist:

Gr. 4-7. The first clue that Jimmy Coates isn't an ordinary 11-year-old comes when mysterious officials arrive at his house and announce, "We've come for the boy." Jimmy outruns them, helped by instincts that seem more refined than typical fight-or-flight reflexes. Soon he discovers why. He is 38 percent human and 62 percent "Earth's finest technological hardware," a genetically altered assassin created by an increasingly dictatorial British state. Called into service before his programming has fully kicked in, Jimmy now faces devastating conflicts as autocrats command him to lay waste to their political opponents . . . or else. The story feels as engineered as its bionic hero, but Craig acquits himself admirably within the paint-by-numbers structure. Readers will cheer at Jimmy's refusal to meekly accept the "organic evil" inside him, and will flinch at the creepy subterfuge behind every aspect of his upbringing. Punches are thrown and received but no deaths occur, and Jimmy's convivial ensemble of helpful adults and peers leavens the propulsive suspense. Suggest this to readers not quite ready for the darker extremes of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series. An unresolved ending augurs more to come. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Trophy Pr
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0060772654
• ISBN 13: 9780060772659
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224