Shockwave by Jack Heath

Countdown to danger series bk. 2. Scholastic, 2016. ISBN 9781760159634
(Age: 8+) Recommended. Themes: Adventure, Dangerous Situations, Decision Making. Jack Heath's new series Countdown to danger delivers action-packed adventures, fast-paced plots and involves the reader in making difficult moral decisions. In Shockwave, you've chosen to leave your Karina Bay Surf Camp buddies and head down to the beach to catch a late afternoon wave. Images of crocodiles and sharks are ever present when a speedboat with a mysterious woman lands on the beach. Your first choice is to take on the role of Seth or Leah. The time is ticking down, do you save your friends, help Harrison the camp leader, defuse the bomb, save yourself, hide from the villains or defuse the bomb?
There are twelve opportunities to survive and unluckily many ways to end your life - falling down a deep chasm, detonating the bomb and even a zombie attack. Whenever this happens there is another opportunity, the book tells the reader another page to return to and the adventure continues. There are moral questions presented as well: do you save Harrison the camp leader, believe Agent Stacey and help save the others, steer the hovercraft to the oil platform or save yourself? How important is being honest, saving your friends and stopping a bomb blast?
This thrilling first person narrative delivers an amazing array of settings, bombed beaches, crocodile infested rivers, scary deep chasms and demands amazing ingenuity making a hot air balloon made from a tent and skill - standing on the back of a twenty-metre shark!
Rhyllis Bignell