Alpha Force: Red Centre

Alpha Force #5

by Chris Ryan

Alpha Red Centre

Genres: Action, Young Adult, Adventure, Fiction, Ebooks, Childrens, Thriller

300 pages, Hardcover

First published June 3, 2004

About the author

Colin Armstrong (b. 1961), usually known by the pen-name Chris Ryan, is a British author, television presenter, security consultant and former Special Air Service sergeant.
After the publication of fellow patrol member Andy McNab's Bravo Two Zero in 1993, Ryan published his own account of his experiences during the Bravo Two Zero mission in 1995, entitled The One That Got Away. Since retiring from the British Army Ryan has published several fiction and non-fiction books, including Strike Back, which was subsequently adapted into a television series for Sky 1, and co-created the ITV action series Ultimate Force. He has also presented or appeared in numerous television documentaries connected to the military or law enforcement.

Reviews

[Shame · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chris Ryan's fifth instalment in the A L P H A FORCE series takes place in Australia.
ALPHA stands for each of the the teams initial Alex,Li,Paulo,Hex and Amber.
The team were recruited to help on a survival show in Australia's jungle.
What started out as a great activity for the group soon got overshadowed when Paulo's eye caught a familiar face who was supposedly to be in a high security prison in Beaumont,Texas.
His name Pirrioni was a highly accomplished international terrorist who had escaped prison in Texas.

Now the real story started, Pirrioni took hostage of five contestants demanding to be released in a neutral country other wise he would take matter in his own hands.
Eventually Alex was also taken hostage as he tried to help cut the circuit wires near the control room.
Eventually Pirrioni also released four of his hostages leaving Alex ,Amber(contestant) and Li who snuck on the trunk in the plane to help out

Pirrioni landed and made the hostages walk and a sudden sandstorm had the hostages and Pirrioni running to a mineshaft to avoid the storm.
After several minutes Pirrioni was missing and when the whole group arrived they saw Pirrionis had chopped off.

Finally at the end Pirrioni was found lying on the ground dead after he walked into his own booby trap.

Overall the story is good but it became a bit repetitive sometimes but another great piece of work from Chris Ryan

[Genevieve · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rating

I think I’m going to give this series a mini break as they aided with fixing my reading slump but it’s reaching the point where I’m noticing that things are always conveniently going right at the last second. But also I was surprised about how little I remembered from this book so that helped. I gave this a lower rating because really dumb decisions were being made in this book. like Li just hopping into the plane because she thought that was the best thing to do, and then Alex deciding to follow a cold-blooded killer in the desert just cause he wanted his knife back?? madness.

[Myles (semi hiatus) · Rating 2 out of 5]

trust me don't

[Patrik Klages · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good teenage novel.

[Raphael Villareal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good not great. Some character decisions were just downright stupid but still a fun story.

[St Stephen's C C]

Alpha Force - a group of five kids dedicated to fighting against injustice in the world - are in Australia, helping with a TV reality show. But when Paulo spots a dangerous terrorist hiding out in a nearby town, events suddenly force them into a terrifying adventure as the terrorist seizes hostages and flies off into the bush. Supporting the Australian SAS, Alpha Force have to take action - even if it means flying into the midst of a scary bushfire.

[Chris Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I like the Alpha Force series after reading 4/5 of the 1st 5 novels in quick succession I think I might need to give myself a break from them for the time being. I liked the general idea of the story and thought some of the evasion ideas and boobytrap ideas used in the book were very creative. However I do hope now before I carry on with the other Alpha Force books in the series that there are some twists where the group maybe don't get the luck they seem to always get. I think the straw that broke the camels back in this book was when in the vast outback and having lost radio contact the remaining members of the group they were lucky enough to spot the hijacked plane with the X marked underneath flying above them. This is why I feel the remaining books may need something to flip that thought from my head as now any predicament they get themselves in I'm thinking they are going to get themselves out of them without any repurcussions therefore killing any suspense that may have been involved.

[George Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Red Centre
Chris Ryan
4 stars

Red Centre is about 5 people called Alex, Li, Paulo, Hex and Amber and the first letters of their names spell Alpha so they are called Alpha Force. They go on a trip to Australia to go and test an adventure course for a TV show. When the celebrity guests came to go on the TV show a terrorist came called Pirroni and took them as hostages. Alex then sneaked into the place where the hostages were to help them but he got stuck himself.

Alex is my favourite character because he is very courageous even though he gets himself stuck in situations. He still got out of the situation at the end and made Pirroni walk round in a circle and step on his own trap.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being left a bit disappointed after "Hostage", the previous book of this series, I was hoping for Red Centre to exceed my expectations this time. It certainly did. Set in the Australian outback, Alpha Force has more to deal with than just the dangerous wildlife. They have to overcome numerous challenges to find a well-known terrorist and free the children he has taken hostage. Across their journey they encounter the difficulty of navigating a plane though a vigorous sandstorm, finding their way around a severe sandstorm, and dealing with all kinds of threats (animal as well as human-made).

Definitely gripping and worth the read. With Rat-Catcher the best book of this series so far!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes. I finally managed to find the last one in the set to complete it. I really enjoyed these Alpha Force books from Chris Ryan. The characters were really good and worked well together. Out of the books it wasn't my favourite story line though which is why only the 4 stars. I liked the reality tv show in the jungle setting and the wildfire, it was just the kidnapper/terrorist part that did not quite do it for me.