Urban Outlaws by Peter Jay Black

Bloomsbury, 2014. ISBN 9781408851418.
Recommended for readers from 10 to 14 years, both boys and girls who loved action adventure novels. Peter Jay Black's novel introduces Jack, Charlie, Obi, Wren and Slink, five young vigilantes who have chosen to live as Urban Outlaws, like Robin Hood. Through a variety of unfortunate circumstances, these talented kids aged between ten and fifteen have banded together and use their myriad of high-techskills, athleticisim and brilliant minds to steal from wealthy criminals and share the spoils with the poor and needy.
Their home base in London is deep underground in an abandoned World War 2 bunker where they have resourcefully set up their living quarters, surveillance equipment and monitoring devices. Jack, the leader thinks on his feet and with his friends utilising their specialist skills they steal a large amount of money from Benito Del Sarto, one of the country's biggest dealers of illegal arms. As they are undertaking this secret mission, they stumble across a quantum computer Proteus and struggle to gain control of this super threat.
This action-packed novel asks the reader to suspend belief and fully engage in the outlaws' fight against evil. Every chapter is full of heroic action with the aid of high tech gadgets this makes for a fast-paced story. The characters are relatable, each has a skill set needed for the completion of the adventure. Their life underground requires resourcefulness and they support each other as a unique group of friends who have come from traumatic circumstances.
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Rhyllis Bignell