Countdown to Danger #2 Shockwave

Countdown to Danger #2

by Jack Heath

You are swimming through the ocean, trying to escape dangerous mercenaries who have planted a bomb on the mainland. Behind you, getting closer, is the largest shark you've ever seen.
An explosion rips out from the shoreline and a massive wave flings you closer to the stunned shark's open mouth. You don't have much time, and you need to get to land. Do you keep swimming or do you climb onto the shark's back to ride to shore? Thirty minutes. Thirty paths.
Can you choose the path to survive?

147 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2016

About the author

Jack Heath wrote his debut novel, The Lab, in secondary school and sent it to a publisher at age seventeen. He's now the award-winning author of forty novels for adults and children, including the international bestsellers Hangman, The Wife Swap and 300 Minutes of Danger. His books have been translated into ten languages, optioned for TV and adapted for film. He lives on Ngunnawal/Ngambri country in Canberra, Australia, with his wife, their children, several chickens, a few fish and a possum named Oreo.

Reviews

[Tonja Drecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

High-stakes, tons of tension, action-packed on every page, and a chance to decided your own actions...and fate—it's got everything an exciting read needs and more.

You, the reader, are the main character. During a trip to the beach, a woman with bullet holes in her boat, begs for help and claims that a bomb is about to detonate. Will you help her? Will you face the evil or try to save your friends? Every choice carries heavy consequences and only a few lead to survival.

I've always been a fan of these types of books...and I died the first time I went through this one. It is an adventurous read and slides along the theme of secret agents, bombs, kidnapping, wild animals, and so much more. Every page is action pure and each choice really does lead to unexpected twists. It was hard to tell if my choices would be 'smart' ones or lead to doom. And this uncertainty is, in my opinion, exactly what's necessary to make one of these books a good read.

The beginning of this one didn't lead into the tale as much as I would have liked. While I did hate more than a page or two of text in these books when I was a kid, this one still starts out a bit too quick. On the other hand, the author did something I've never seen before—he allows the reader to choose whether they'll be a Seth or a Leah, while still keeping the page turning surprise flow.

The tale itself is well written enough. The dialogue is natural, the scenes easy to picture, and the pacing remains quick and keeps boredom far, far away. There are more violent episodes...which is to be expected in a true spy action book, but more sensitive readers might want to keep that in mind.

I had a lot of fun with this one, and it got passed around all of my family members with each one enjoying it. It's a great read for reluctant readers as well as bookworms and is one of those books, which might be read under the blankets after being told to go to bed.

[N. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm giving this book middle grade book 5 stars in spite of the fact that I eventually hit a point that I became sick of going back to the beginning to try new adventures and see if I survived. Why? Because I know for a fact that my eldest son would have eaten this up as a child. He was big into the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series and there is no doubt that Jack Heath knows how to make the various threads all exciting and tense in their own way.

Chalk up my fatigue to being old and not wanting to keep rereading the first few pages repeatedly for at least a dozen times. After a while, I just got tired of flipping back and forth. It's also notable that I'm one of those people who read a magazine or newspaper from cover to cover and can't bear to just flip around, reading an article here or there. So, partly a personality thing. But, I can't knock off any points at all because everything about this book is entertaining. Would I read another "Pick Your Fate" book by Jack Heath? Yes, even knowing I'd eventually reach a point that I'd had enough, his books are so full of breathless action that I maintain the thought that I would read absolutely anything he wrote. Or writes. Count me in.

Loads of fun for the adventure-minded child or adult.

[St Stephen's C C]

You are swimming through the ocean, trying to escape dangerous mercenaries who have planted a bomb on the mainland. Behind you, getting closer, is the largest shark you've ever seen.
An explosion rips out from the shoreline and a massive wave flings you closer to the stunned shark's open mouth. You don't have much time, and you need to get to land. Do you keep swimming or do you climb onto the shark's back to ride to shore? Thirty minutes. Thirty paths.
Can you choose the path to survive?

[Shai Strutt]

Have you ever imaged being a secret agent and your mission is to fight criminals who have planned a bomb in an island and stop it before it explodes. In the book Count Down To Danger Shockwave by Jack Heath you are a young boy happily surfing until a secret agent tells you that there is a bomb planned and that she needs your help to stop it from exploding and evacuate everyone out of the island so they are safe. The rest of the story is up to you as you are the one that chooses your own fait, the destiny of the book and how it ends is completely up to you. There are over 30 possible endings some are good and some are bad.

I really enjoyed reading this book as I found it very interesting as I was the one that actually made the choices within the book and I got to change the plot. This factor of the book really made the reader want to keep reading and see how their choices will effect the outcome of the book. The book was really in depth and descriptive language was used continually through the novel which made the reader have a greater sense of what was going on as well as have a better picture painted in their heads.

Count Down To Danger: Shockwave is a really entertaining book that would mostly be labelled as a fictional adventure and action because it did not matter what path you chose, there would always be a time where you had to fight villains and stop them from getting away. It could also be a fictional comedy as some of the things that you can say are funny and some of the endings can be pretty humorous and not what you expected.

The novel was very enjoyable and I really liked reading it. However my favourite part of the book would be when two villains came and tried to kidnap the secret agent… I chose to help her which made me have an encounter with them and I had to fight them off. This was my favourite part because I feel it was a crucial moment in the book as I felt like I needed to try and save her in order to save everyone else that was living in the island as she was leading me to where we could stop the explosion.

A major theme that was continuously used through out the book would be Courage and Bravery. Courage was shown as you are immediately thrown into many situations that will effect your out come with the book and you have to be brave and choose the right path that you believe will make you stay alive and have a happy ending.

Overall I think that this book was really good and was written brilliantly. I enjoyed the layout of the book and especially found the way you can choose your own path was really good. I don't really enjoy reading but found this book interesting and easy to read. The effort that was put in the book was extraordinary, this helped me want to keep reading and I found it hard to put the book down. Count Down To Danger: Shockwave is an amazing book and I would give it a 9/10.