Counterstrike by Peter Jay Black

Urban Outlaws series bk. 4. Bloomsbury, 2016. ISBN 9781408851494
(Age: 10-14) Recommended. The Urban Outlaws Jack, Charlie, Obi, Wren and Slink, return in Counterstrike and undertake their most difficult mission fraught with danger. They need all their high-tech skills, athleticism, to rely on other underground gangs and trust in fifteen-year-old Jack their leader's abilities to carry out this mission in such a short amount of time. Their enemy Hector and his evil gang is just as determined to find the Medusa weapon locked deep underground in the Facility. This by far their most difficult mission for the outlaws as Jack is stretched almost to breaking point and one of their team is injured.
Twists and turns abound as each team member draws on their own skills and expertise to plan their break in to the Facility and make their way to the fifth underground level. Charlie confronts her deep grief as she returns to her father's auto workshop, the scene of his murder. Here she uses her amazing mechanical skills to engineer a dual driver Ford Escort needed to fool the guards at the Facility. Computer espionage, hacking, viruses and accessing supercomputers seems easy to Obi and Noble their only adult friend and rescuer.
These five young vigilantes have moved on from their previous Random Acts of Kindness, stealing from the rich and helping the poor to survive. Only once does the action slow as they deliver pet lunch boxes to a rescue dogs' home.
Peter Jay Black understands the reading audience, clever dialogue, great teenage camaraderie, high-tech equipment, amazing physical abilities and realistic characters and yes, he leaves us with a cliff-hanger. How are the Urban Outlaws going to solve their most difficult dilemma?
Rhyllis Bignell