Dark Star by Lara Morgan

The Rosie Black Chronicles, Book 3. Walker Books, 2012 ISBN 9781921529412.
(Age: 11+) Sci-fi/Fantasy. Adventure. Recommended. With foresight, Rosie allows herself to be taken by the 40 year old man to the city of Newpath a place where operatives are trained. All eyes are on her as they mistrust her motivation and are alert to any mistake she may make, exposing herself as a spy. The opening paragraphs clearly show the reader what has happened in the previous two chronicles of Rosie Black and this stunning book will entreat them to stay till the end. For this is an adventure, although superficially like many others with strong willed young female heroes, is dissimilar with its science fiction themes.
But power struggles are going on and implicate even the most benign of managers, as Rosie finds that it is the manager of the powerful Helios company that really rules and it is he and his cronies who have let the deadly MalX virus spread, controlling the population.
Into the mix, Pip is brought. It is his blood they are after as it seems to have an inbuilt immunity to MalX and so could prove invaluable to the company that owns it. But the other volunteers in the research establishment are dying, and Pip really seeks to find Rosie to explain things to her, as they left on bad terms.
So the story develops as the survival of the two is tantamount.
But things within Helios are not running smoothly. Rebellion is brewing and so a powerful denouement is to be reached. A great third book within this series, it should keep readers hooked up to the last pages. Parallels to modern problems abound if the reader cares to make comparisons. A good website introducing the series is available.
Fran Knight