Jimmy Coates: Killer is written by Joe Craig. It is an action novel which gives you a constant edge-of-the-seat read. The main characters are Jimmy, Felix and Georgie, who assures Felix and Jimmy’s escape from the preying eyes of NJ7, an assassin organisation that create self-aware killing machines inside what appear to be humans. Felix and Jimmy are best friends and co-operate with each other courageously throughout the novel.
NJ7 create Jimmy, who is a machine but seems to be human and keep him secretly in their clutches until Jimmy’s powers start becoming self-aware. NJ7 dedicate their time to recapturing Jimmy but find it hard as he is no longer an ordinary boy. Jimmy is incredibly startled by this as he is plunged into a world of loneliness, mayhem and survival. He then starts realising what abilities he has to protect himself, only to realise that it is the machine inside him that is controlling him.
The language used in this action-packed thriller creates suspense in the sense that it builds up tension about whether Jimmy will live or die in this challenge he has been faced with. There is a lot of effective description in the book such as when Jimmy has to describe his surroundings to his friends. He is the only one who can see in the dark as his programming has progressed to develop night-vision. A quote at this part in the story is: “'Is that you Jimmy?' 'Of course it’s me; you’re looking right at me.' Jimmy looked around at everyone. They all had their hands stretched out in front of them, feeling something that wasn’t there, with their faces screwed up.”
This book is part of a series of four books. This series includes Jimmy Coates: Killer: Target: Revenge and: Sabotage.
I think that the book is brilliant, especially for boys into action novels. This is because it keeps you reading on with a passion to find out more and will grip you and expand your imagination beyond its limits. I would give this book a five star rating.