High octane and high stakes. A fabulous page turning adventure, with a morale dilemma and a twist I didn’t see coming. Highly recommended. I was very lucky to read a proof copy. It’s so good I’ve preordered a book to read again. Young teens will love this. Enjoy!

Could not put this down, it's addictive, fast paced and exhilarating. There's secrets buried below secrets, hidden identities, twists, and action exploding out of the pages of this young spy thriller. Zac is a great character, a young, naive teenager trying so desperately to get the approval of his dad. Wanting to make him proud but unable to follow through thanks to his own moral compass and ethics. I admired the inner strength it took for him to follow his own heart on these decisions. The Python group are a misfits band but each brought great skills and background to the overall story. I'm glad that there are now adventures to come to delve deeper into the relationships between them all. Their group dynamics were fun to watch as they tried to complete the mission. I had great fun reading this and am excited about the prospect of more from Zac and the Python team. It scratched an itch left behind by bAlex Rider and young bond. Thank you to the author, Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for my copy.

Although as a child I’d been brought up on James Bond films, which – unbelievably to today’s kids – were a rare treat that were only ever shown on Bank Holiday Mondays, it wasn’t until my mid-teens that the idea of becoming a spy or secret agent became appealing. If I’m honest, this was mainly down to the BBC showing several The Man from U.N.C.L.E. films in the summer holidays a few years in a row and my developing a huge crush on Illya Kuryakin, played by the late David McCallum, but all these years later, I’d still be thrilled to be sent on a mission with him and Robert Vaughan’s Napoleon Solo. Today’s young readers are far more likely to be familiar with James Bond than I was at their age, either through the films or Charlie Higson’s Young Bond books, and the continuing popularity of these together with Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider stories will have left many of them hungry for more adventures filled with espionage and gadgets, leading me onto this new read for them. Fast-paced and action-packed, this opener for a new series is one that is filled with twists and turns and one that introduces us to protagonist Zac Thorne, whose life is changed forever when infighting within his family of master criminals leads to his being taken into protective custody. Following a murder attempt by one family member against another two months ago, Zak has found himself in the care of covert residential protection officer Danny, who works for the National Crime Agency. When Danny offers him the chance to join a team called Python, which is overseen by the NCA and MI5 and is staffed by teenagers whose lives have been damaged by organised crime, a reluctant Zak agrees. Sent on his first mission to local shopping mall the Kewford Centre, Zak is initially tasked with finding the other members of the team who are already in place there as part of a plan to take down a mobster operating from within its walls, but unwilling to do the groundwork expected of him ahead of time, quickly finds himself in trouble. Having managed to worm his way out of the situation, Zak identifies the other Python members and between them they start to formulate a plan to put a stop to the criminal activities being carried out in the mall. But when a hunch leads him to uncover the mobster’s base, Zak impulsively decides to act alone, throwing everything into confusion and putting himself and the rest of his team in danger. Untrained for the situation in which he now finds himself, Can Zak somehow find a way not only to alert those in control to what is going on but also to save his own skin and those of his new teammates? Very soon after picking up Zak’s story, we learn that although his family appears to be a bunch of amoral criminals who are prepared to stop at nothing in their attempts to carry out their crooked business dealings, Zak clearly doesn’t fit in. Torn by loyalty to his father, who runs the corp of which he desperately wants to be a part, and doing what his conscience tells him is the right thing, after being placed in Danny’s care, Zak is keen to do all that he can to reunite himself with his father and reestablish his hopes of joining his dad’s business empire, leading him to agree to join Python. When he meets the other teenagers who will be working alongside him, his misplaced self-confidence almost scuppers their task before it’s even started and as we watch him try to put things right, his inexperience of both breaking the law and being part of a team continue to trip him up, leading to what is a really exciting read as he tries to do whatever it takes not just to stay alive but also to bring down those who are on the wrong side of the law. I don’t think it’s too spoilery, with this being just the start of the series, to say that he makes it to the end and I can’t wait for Book 2 to reveal just what he has learnt and how he puts it to use in Python’s next mission.

I read Bite Risk, the author’s previous series. I loved it as an adult, a fun read. But it’s written for children. S. J. Wills books are children’s stories with pace, action, humour, a bit of villainy and absolutely are perfect for children readers to get their teeth into. (See what I did?) This new series is full of the same. But now spying, espionage, and revenge, is centre stage. Intrigue and mixed up past family history are firmly in the mix. Some real snakes in the grass too. (I’ve done it again!) Once more just right for children. So buy, get your parents to buy, request from your public library, or say please, please, pleaseeee to your school librarian. If you are an adult read the book too, or maybe read it along with, and connect with, your child. Also the second book with Zac and his new friends will be out soon. What will happen when their personal secrets start getting revealed? I know it’s a children’s book, and I’m not a child, but ‘first dibs!!’ Thank you to Simon and Schuster UK Children’s and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

After he snitches on his mafia family, Zac is taken into protective custody, until he's given the opportunity to work for the secret government agency Python. Seeing as this might give him a way home, he reluctantly agrees. But when the team ends up trapped in a shopping centre with rival crime boss The Manicurist, a cat-and-mouse game ensues that will test Zac's loyalties and force him to fight for his life. "Python: The New Recruit" by SJ Wills is an action-packed, teen spy thriller full of twists that were never quite what I expected. It's fun, super fast-paced, and very cool. I adored the contained setting in the shopping centre, that's in some ways almost an antagonist in and of itself, and that probably gave me the Die Hard vibes. Filled with spies and mobsters, revenge and secrets, this story left me excited for the sequel! Thanks to the publisher for an advance reader copy.