Synopsis: Jonah Wish has a complicated life. He is one of four young experts working for criminal mastermind Nathaniel Coldhardt. If that wasn’t difficult enough, he has to keep his relationship with one of his fellow Talents a secret and deal with the boss’s pathological secrecy. When a rival gang of teenage criminals put in an appearance, it may just be too much for the team to handle, especially if their boss has a score to settle with Coldhardt. Secrets pile on secrets and the stakes are raised over and again, as Jonah struggles to keep his side one step ahead by deciphering the indecipherable and unlocking the Bloodline Cipher. 

 Review: The third – and seemingly final – instalment in Stephen Cole’s junior criminals series is sort of like the adventures of Raffles the amateur cracksman, only set in the present day, with multiple teenage protagonists and a rather poorer grasp of etiquette. And less cricket. 

 Alright, so it’s not much like Raffle at all, except in that it places its heroes unashamedly on the wrong side of the law, but that’s a major point. Although Jonah and his friends have an essential dignity beneath their rough exterior – all flinch from murder and the victims of their crimes are all a) megarich and b) scum – they are nonetheless criminals, and fairly glamorous criminals at that. Perhaps it is for this reason that, in among the daring exploits and pseudo-occult shenanigans, The Bloodline Cipher focuses on the pitfalls and dangers of this lifestyle, and indeed presents the other team as the shadow-side of our protagonists, a warning of what could be. *

The Bloodline Cipher is thus a slightly darker book than Thieves Like Us or The Aztec Code, and it wasn’t like either of those was exactly a riot of butterflies and candy clouds. Nonetheless, it is a slick, Da Vincian adventure romp for the disillusioned, older ex-Alex Rider fan.

2008-05-10