Recruit

Bodyguard #1, part 1

by Chris Bradford

A new action-packed spy and adventure series for young fans of Alex Rider and Jason Bourne--with the first four books publishing simultaneously. Binge read for summer!
As the son of a bodyguard who sacrificed his life in the line of duty, teenage kickboxing champion Connor Reeves is determined to do his father proud and follow in his footsteps. Recruited into the ranks of a top-secret young bodyguard squad, Connor embarks on a rigorous training course, taking lessons in surveillance, anti-ambush exercises, hostage survival and unarmed combat. Whatever it takes to prepare him for the dangerous missions ahead.
Connor's training is put to the test when the U.S. President summons Connor for a crucial assignment: protecting the First Daughter. As Connor quickly discovers, the President's daughter, Alicia, doesn't want to be guarded; it is impossible to have fun while being watched all the time. So with no clue that Connor is her bodyguard, Alicia tries to elude her Secret Service agents and lead Connor astray. But unknown to her, a terrorist sleeper cell has been activated. Its mission: to take the president's daughter hostage.
Combining pulse-pounding action, diabolical enemies, and an insider's knowledge of the tricks of the trade, the BODYGUARD series is the perfect target for fans of Alex Rider, James Bond, 24, and Jason Bourne."

Genres: Action, Adventure, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Thriller, Fiction, Espionage

272 pages, Paperback

Published May 9, 2017

About the author

Chris Bradford is the bestselling author of the Young Samurai, Bodyguard and Soul Series.

Chris is renowned for his inspiring author events and ‘method writing’ style. For his award-winning Young Samurai series, he trained in samurai swordmanship, karate, ninjutsu and earned his black belt in Zen Kyu Shin Taijutsu.

For his BODYGUARD series, Chris embarked on an intensive close protection course to become a qualified professional bodyguard.

And for the Soul Prophecy trilogy, Chris travelled extensively to experience first-hand the cultures featured in the story – from living with the Shona people in Zimbabwe, to trekking the Inca trail, to meditating in a Buddhist temple amid the mountains of Japan.

His books have been published in more than 25 languages and been nominated for 30+ book awards, winning among others the Northern Ireland Book Award 2011, the Hampshire Book Award 2014 and the Brilliant Book Award 2014. Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior was deemed one of Puffin’s 70 Best Ever Books, alongside Treasure Island and Robin Hood.

To discover more about Chris or book an author visit: www.chrisbradford.co.uk

Reviews

[Millard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Confusing titles, some are UK and and some are US. I actually had this UK version and enjoy it. It is the same premise as Alex Rider and Jason Steed, and like Jason Steed is a teen martial arts champion so is Connor Reeves.
Connor lives with his mother and Gran, his father was in the army and two were clearly close, Connor's dather, Justin Reeves, died as a bodyguard protecting the future president of the United States of America. At the time of his death Connor thought he was just a solider but all is revealed when he enters the 'Buddyguard' training programme.

The first 35% of the book is all about is training and a little too much into that, it made it drag on a bit, I almost put it down but had read the reviews so kept going. Glad I did, now I am looking forward to reading the rest.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the beginning of the book, Bodyguard - Recruit, a bodyguard is killed protecting a US Ambassador. Later we learn that the bodyguard was the father of Connor Reeves who is a teenage kickboxing champion recruited to become part of a covert team assigned to protect famous young people. Conner is immediately chosen for a mission over other more experienced operatives because the former Ambassador is now the President of the United States, and his teenage daughter, Alicia has a habit of trying to ditch her Secret Service protection team. Conner is introduced to Alicia as the son of a diplomat that will be staying in the White House. It isn't long before Conner's skills are put to the test.
This book is the beginning of an initial four book series that has expanded to eight books. This story is a quick, enjoyable read. The situation somewhat stretches believability, and there isn't much character development, but overall, it is a good, action packed story.

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this series so much! There’s so much more action than Cherub, but there also seem to lack more excitement in the beginning compared to Cherub where the intense training captivated you. However this one contains much more tech related and they seem more prepared I think. This one feels more tangible and real, but it can also make it sound even less realistic. So yeah the beginning went by slightly too fast so you kind of miss a lot of insight on the training, but I guess it also made me become a bit less interested in the book. Why the 4 stars.

[Denae Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reader thoughts: It reads like a spy novel, except there's no giant mystery. It's just, protect the President's daughter without getting caught, not even by her.

That's right. Connor can't even tell the girl who he really is or what he really does. This makes for some interesting secrets and fun scenes where he has to protect her without her knowing it. He has to be alert at all times and still pay attention to conversation and school and even bullies. Ha!

I liked hearing about his recruitment and his training, but his job was more interesting. I liked his dilemma between becoming friends with the girl and just protecting her because it was his job. It made Connor feel more like a person with real personality.

It was cool that the other bodyguard recruits got to help, even though they were behind the scenes and just did a bunch of computer stuff.

Then, the kidnapping! Ooh! It was so tense.

Writer thoughts: CB could have made this book 40 pages longer without slowing down. I don't say that very often. I wanted all the scenes to be from Connor's pov, but sometimes we switched to a new pov before I was ready. Maybe that added to the tension, that readers were getting shoved out of a scene/pov before the scene was over. There was more information we wanted.

Like, one pov character gets shot, and the scene stops right there. Wait, I wanted to know how they reacted to the pain in the moment. Don't skip now!

See? I was tense.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, the son of a bodyguard, Conner Reeves won a kickboxing championship match and as he walks home he spots a boy getting assaulted by a gang in an alley. He sees an adult look at the assault, but averts his eyes and leaves. Being the son of a bodyguard, Conner refuses to leave and helps out the boy being assaulted. Being a kickboxer champion, he was trained to defend himself and the boy. Conner quickly analyzes the assault and gets ready to defend. As the gang attacks him he quickly avoids the punches and finishes them. As he's about to finish them, the authorities arrive and find Conner assaulting three boys and one girl. They think that Conner was the assaulter, and when he tries to explain that he was defending the boy, the alley was deserted. When Conner was arrested, the police officer interrogated him on why he was beating up the gang members. Conner said that there was a boy that was about to get beaten up, and it was the right thing to do. After the officer checked his file on being a black belt in kickboxing and jujitsu, she said that he passed the test. The whole scenario was a test to see if Conner was bodyguard material, and he was. I rated this book four stars because not only the author has great descriptions of the movements during a fight, he also creates a great plot about a trained teenager being recruited as a young bodyguard. I would recommend this book to teenagers who like espionage and action.

[MzDimitri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Solid 2 stars. I went into this book thinking it was a YA book (it was in the YA section of the bookstore okay, don’t judge me too harshly) which it is obviously not, so as expected this book wasn’t like I thought it would be. I quickly found out that it wasn’t YA, but I decided to finish it (because you know I can’t just quit a book for no other reason then “it’s middle-grade”).
Things I didn’t like: I felt parts of this book dragged out and there were a lot of fake outs, for example, a chapter would start off as someone getting suddenly attacked and it turned out to be a training drill. I also didn’t like that half way though this book was when we finally met the person who needed a bodyguard. This is a series, but I wish the action would’ve picked up a little sooner.
Things I liked: The ending of the book had me on the edge of my seat the whole time (why the cliff hanger?!?!) and I loved how different bodyguard techniques were explained. (You know I will be using these techniques myself for no other reason then I can 😁) I also liked the main character (even though my brain didn’t process he had an British accent until over half way through the book, which is totally my fault lol) and how he wasn’t a perfect bodyguard or person. I liked how he had flaws, but also was super cool at the same time. Plus, it was also a clean read, so…)
All in all, this book just wasn’t for me. It had its moments, but it also had a lot of boring parts.

[Cameron]

This is a very good book. I love the actionand how the author storytells the book. My favorite part is when connor starts off how he is A professionial kick boxer champion and how then he is walking home and how he gets into a fight with undercover agents because these people are watching him connor defats these people then gets arrested. He gets taken to te "police staion" and gets put into a talking booth. These people are like fake cops basically who have been watching connor for a while because of his serious talent inkickboxing. These people want connor to become a professinal bodyguard. Connor gets his first assianment well first he gets sent to a trainign camp then he gets his first assimnet. Where he has to be a bodyguardfor the president daugter. Then this guy aroudn america wants to capsire the presidents daughter so then connor has to take a really big look out people that is all thsi guy wants to do is take out the presidents daughter. This is a really good book a recommend to read it.

[BobaFett114 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book for my 11 year old son and he read it in almost one sitting. He gushed on and on about it and is now reading the 4th book. He was so enthusiastic that I thought I would read the first one just so we could talk about it. WOW!!! To me, this is like a Clive Cussler book for kids. There is a lot of factual information in here so the kids learn something new, without them knowing it! I stayed up late for two nights so I could finish it because it was just that good!

The book follows Connor, a 14 year old kickboxing champion. He is recruited into a secret organization called Guardian. He learns how to be a bodyguard and how to protect his Principal with his life. In this book, his first mission is to protect the president's daughter.

There is a small cliffhanger that leads into the next book. I have already started the next book and my son loves that we can talk about it together. Give it a chance! It is an excellent book. Very well written as well!

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this book as a recommendation and well, I must say it held up to the hype. The beginning was truly captivating and you just wanted to keep reading. A young boy lives with his mom and grandma. His mother is sick and his grandma is getting older. His father died trying to guard someone. He wins at a self defense tournament and a man recruits him to be a bodyguard. A man that knew his father. Connor is only 14, so he goes through training and ends up guarding the president's daughter. The book leaves you hanging almost in mid sentence, so you will want to have the next book available. I would recommend it to 10 year olds and up. It does mention looking at girls and whether or not they are cute, but nothing that is not clean. Hopefully it will stay a clean read for my higher readers in 4th grade that like action.

[John Noble · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, stupid publisher.

So, the book is awesome. As many people mention it ends in a truly idiotic spot. Likely this is the publishers doing (Philomel Books is an imprint of Penguin so it's not surprising). I suspect it's not necessarily being greedy as some other reviewers have speculated. Likely it's a marketing thing. Since the book is targeted at young boys I suspect they foolishly decided that the original was too long and split it in half, figuring that middle school boys would never buy a big book. This is both condescending and dumb, and I suspect the author had no say in the matter.

The story itself is great, just plan on buying books 1 and 2 for the full story. Otherwise, I really enjoyed it and it's off to read the next one.

[KOLTON HARREN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Connor Reeves is 14 years old and is a kickboxing champion. Connor is recruited into a secret group called the Guardians. He tries to impress his dad and becomes a top-ranked bodyguard. He goes through lots of training to get there.

There are a few things the author did well in this book. He described the plot very well which made the book more interesting. He also describes and talks about the fight sense very well which made me keep reading. He ends some of the chapters with cliffhangers which made me want to keep reading.

Some things the author could work on are describing the characters a little more. Some of the missions seemed kind of short and could be a little longer.

[Lauren Thell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The premise of teens doing the dangerous work of adults might not fly in the real world, but hey, that's what makes fiction like this so intriguing. I was hooked from the publisher's warning on the first page, telling me to "not attempt any of the techniques described within the book without the supervision of a qualified martial arts instructor." This was a clean read with lots of action combined with lots of character building. No profanity or sex. Contains some moments of violence, including kickboxing and martial arts, terrorist activity, and war-zone violence. Nothing unnecessarily graphic.

Heads up, you'll want to have book 2 ready for when you finish book 1.

[Brady D]

Connor Reeves is a kickboxing champion. He is trying to make his father proud. His father is a former special forces soldier. Connor was recruited into the ranks of a top secret bodyguard. He trains for anti ambush,hostage survival and unarmed combat.

He prepares for lots of dangerous missions. His most challenging mission was protecting the Presidents first daughter. When he walked into the Oval office he thought he walked into a movie set. When Connor came face to face with the President all he could do was stare. Connor got into a fight with a gangster and knocked out his gold tooth.

[Esther Song]

OMG this book was heaven on earth! I took a break from spy book for a while after finishing the Alex Rider series, but I started reading spy books again starting with recruit.
There was nothing bad about his book, which honestly is pretty impressive. HOWEVER, the cliffhanger was just evil. And I didn't expect this book to be so good, so I don't have the second book that I need so bad right now!!!!!
But at least I'm assured a great series... my advice: if you like Alex Rider, you 99% like this series. AKA read it!!!

[Fatimah · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's the first-half of Hostage, I'm not sure why it was re-published with different titles? The only difference that I realized is the term Buddyguard had been replaced with Guardian. Which sounds better if you asked me :p

And maybe some descriptions about certain characters-Amir(he was mentioned as Indian previously),Ling(from Chinese changed to Asian) had been modified

[Kerri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good read that reminds me of the Alex Rider books. Be prepared, though. The whole series is set up to be a “binge read” type of series. This first book left off in the middle of the action with a “to be continued” message on the last page. But it was such a fast read that I didn’t mind it! I can definitely think of some boys who would like this series - boy main character, action scenes, and not too much narration to detract from the action.

[Abel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. I like books similar to this. It was interesting how young people are recruited to be bodyguards because they can get up close and personal to their protectee. It is also interesting that Conner is assigned to the president's daughter as his first assignment.I would rate this book 5 stars because it was a good read. The cliffhanger made me want to pick up the second book and get rid of the suspense.

[Hailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing! It was so suspenseful, and will leave you falling out of your chair. It's about this kid that is a high tech bodyguard, taking care of the president of the United States daughter. You will need to read the book to see what obstacles and joyful times he goes through. This book shows you how the secret service job is very challenging, and difficult!

[Tricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four members of my family read this book this weekend, and a fifth is already well on her way. Great for fans of Alex Rider or the Gallagher Girls. (The first four books of this series was just released in the US. Each US book is 1/2 it's U.K. counterpart.)

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!!!

The plot is great the characters have depth and the story has a great flow to it. I love Chris's other stuff and this is just as good. I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

[DeathWish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, I would read it again. I love the suspense of the growing danger. I like the way it starts in the UK and Connor the bodyguard travels to the US and he has his British accent. I love all the high-tech gadgets Connor gets to use on the mission.

[Cameron McManis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really didn't like the book it was kinda slow. But the middle of the book was okay but it was still kinda slow. The main story was good. But also the characters were funny. Thais the only thing i really liked about the book that the people funny. The Author how he wrote it I liked it. And the backstory on the book. But a lot of it jumped around.

[Barry · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I almost stopped reading because it was too too young / adult it rushed to catch up. The ending a total cliffhanger was upsetting and annoying. I shall not continue the series.

[Karen Arendt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast paced, intelligent, and exciting. This a great choice for adventure fans and boys in particular. Fans of Roland Smith's I Q series will enjoy this series as well.

[Ranee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this type of book - fun adventure. Wasn't a fan of the leave you hanging wait for the sequel ending though...

[Janet Riegel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Begins like a Vince Flynn book and keeps you on the edge until the end!

[Jaymie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great suspense complete with major cliffhanger ending. I can see why they released the first four books all at once. I will need book 2 asap.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good beginning, ehh middle, lame cliff hangerish ending. Will probably read the sequel since this seems so unfinished.

[The Brothers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Asher (12yo) read. "Would have been 5 stars except for the fact that the author ended it abruptly."

[Andrew Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

interesting and suspenseful