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Jul 22, 2013JCLChrisK rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
The problem with being really good is that you create high expectations for yourself. Had this been written by some anonymous author I'd never heard of, there's a chance I might have rated it higher. But when I started this one knowing it was by the always excellent Eoin Colfer, I automatically set very high standards and felt let down to discover that I didn't find it as engaging as his other stories I've read (which is more than just Artemis Fowl). This book is good enough to be a worthwhile read, just not as good as I've come to expect from him. --- "It's funny, thought Chevie. I am not afraid. That is because I still believe we will get out of this alive, in spite of all the evidence." --- Chevie is a kind-of-agent for the FBI. Kind-of, because she's only sixteen and technically can't be one, but she's become involved and they can't just dump her. Instead, her bosses decide to send her to London for a sleepy assignment in a hidden witness protection program. Except it doesn't stay sleepy or hidden for long, as she learns the hard way--and after the fact--what's really going on: time travel. The witnesses were sent back in time so they'd be entirely hidden, but the technology's inventor didn't want it stolen and he took off into the past with its secrets. Except all of a sudden he's back. As a corpse, with a sociopathic assassin right behind him. --- Riley is a street kid in Victorian London who was taken in by a sociopathic assassin. He's acted as apprentice and son to the terrifying Garrick as a way to stay alive, but now Garrick is ready for the young teen to become initiated. When Riley falters during his first assassination attempt, Garrick grabs his arm and drives his knife into the old man's heart. As he does so, a wormhole transports the man through time, and Riley's contact means he's sucked right along. Now he has to figure out this strange London of the future, but he doesn't really have much time to worry about that since he knows Garrick will be coming for him. --- And come Garrick does, killing the FBI clean-up crew along the way and using the wormhole to merge with the head agent and scientist, gaining access to all of his knowledge and memories in the process. He has the top training in killing from two different centuries at his disposal, and now he's after Chevie and Riley to eliminate them as witnesses to his planned quest for power. What follows is an adrenaline-drenched chase through time and the streets of two different Londons.