My 13 year old Goddaughter read this after I had. I thought it was great and really enjoyed it. I thought it was easy to grasp and well written as a 12 1/2 (!) year old.
My goddaughter wrote this review for me about her thoughts "The main characters are Jake Atlas, a 12 ½ year old boy, who finds himself in a lot of trouble. Pandora his twin sister, is a clever person who gets bullied because of it. Jane and John, their parents who aren’t as boring as the children believe. Sami and Kit, the parent’s friends of old. The snake lady who holds the key to any secrets.
This story is narrated by Jake Atlas, this gives the story some texture, as it gives the reader to thoughts and feelings of a 12-year-old boy, with a lot to process. He and his family go on holiday to Egypt, but then his parents go missing, so he and his sister, Pandora, team up with their parent’s old friends Sami and Kit to find out where they have gone. Along the way, they find out many secrets.
The story describes Egypt in such detail, I felt I could picture it well.
The story covers about four days in the families’ lives and centres on how much love they have for each other, even when they don’t show it. As the story unfolds, the relationship between the characters changes, as they start off not seemingly very close, but end up a family unit.
I like the dramatic start to the story, it makes you want to find out what will happen next right from the beginning. I enjoyed seeing all the different parts link up at the end, giving me a chance to be a detective and work out what was happening.
I would read and recommend this book and others written by this author because I liked the suspense."