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Young adult novels
The Bloodline Cipher by Stephen Cole (Bloomsbury, £6.99) is not exactly the teenage answer to the Da Vinci Code. Nevertheless, it does concern the tracking down of an ancient manuscript - in this case, a grimoire, which is believed to be a magical book of the law of the dead.
The chaps on the mission are a gang of teenage thieves; the mission is for their master criminal boss, Coldhardt.
Like its predecessors Thieves Like Us and The Aztec Code, this latest of Cole's books is action-packed, thrilling, and with a twist at the end. Next stage up from Alex Rider, perhaps?
More dark magic in The Summoning by E.E. Richardson (Corgi, £5.99). The summoning in question is that of a creature of great magic, summoned up by Justin, who was experimenting with his grandfather's book of spells to get his own back on the calls know-it-all.
This, too, Is quite hairy reading and to be avoided as bedtime reading for those who have tendencies to nightmares.
Brian Falkner's The Real Thing (Walker, £4.99), funnily enough, really is about Coca-Cola. More specifically, it involves a boy who can not only tell the difference between Coca-Cola and any imitations, but even whether the Coke was out of a bottle or out of a can, or what sized bottle it came in. Which is why he is called Fizzer, and which is also why he gets involved when the only three people in the world who know the secret recipe for Coca-Cola are kidnapped.
It's a great story, full of international conspiracies, lots of mystery, and a thrilling chase around the world.
An excellent and exciting new novel comes from Kay Moran, with Bloodline (Walker, £6.99). Set in Britain in the Dark Ages, it's the story of Essa, who is abandoned by his father - a spy - in a lonely settlement in the marshes.
The settlement and the rest of Britain come under threat, and Essa is caught up in a journey to avert disaster - in the course of which he comes across his father and a cruel Mercian king. It's an unusual book, with plenty of surprises and twists to keep the reader turning the pages.
2:04pm Thursday 24th April 2008
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