coolreads # Retro Books # Agent 21 Codebreaker

Agent 21: Codebreaker
Author: Chris Ryan
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 9781849410090
Year Published: 2013

Chris Ryan's third book on 17-year-old Zak Darke, also known as Agent 21 and working undercover for a UK shadowy government agency, has him taking on another dangerous assignment. As a highly trained agent, he has to intercept the terrorist who is planning to bomb several locations in London.

The first bomb was detonated in the subway - the Pimlico underground station - causing massive damages and killing many lives.

Besides Zak, the other members of the agency are Raf and Gabs who are his adult mentors and their handler, an elderly looking man called Michael.

Zak is then asked to rescue a young computer hacker Malcolm Mann, who is currently locked away in a hospital in South London to help locate the third bomb. Apparently, Malcolm has broken into the CIA, Pentagon and Department of Defence intranets and boasts about it in his personal blog. The Americans are furious and want to put him on trial for breaching their security. Instead of handing him over, the British government placed him under the Mental Health Act to avoid extraditing him.

Malcolm has told his psychiatrist about the Pimlico Station bombing in advance but his warning is ignored.

Meanwhile, Gabs teaches Zak a simple one-time pad code used by the Special Operations Operatives during World War II to read coded messages.

After rescuing Malcolm, Zak learns that the hacker knows about the Pimlico Station bombing from deciphering the message found in the crossword puzzle placed by the terrorist in the Daily Post.

Zak, together with his mentors, solve the following day’s crossword puzzle and look for the message hidden in it. Using the one-time code, they identify the target of the second bomb - St Oswald’s Children Hospital - located on the bank of the Thames. Immediately, they inform Michael who alerts the police to carry out a speedy evacuation.

The tension of hunting for the third bomb and also the identity of the terrorist behind the bombings soon gets to Zak.

He suffers moments of helplessness as he races against the clock alone when both Raf and Gabs are grabbed by the terrorist. They are taken to the underground tunnel beneath Buckingham Palace, which is the location of the third bomb. Zak knows about this location after analysing the message hidden in the report written by Rodney Hendricks, the editor whom Zak works under at the Daily Post. Michael has earlier sent him there as an intern to keep an eye on another staff member, Joshua Ludgrove.

With barely a few minutes left before the bomb goes off, Zak finds and rescues both Raf and Gabs and with their help, disarms the wires connecting the timer to the crates of explosives.

They also identify the terrorist as one of the two brothers - Richard and Lee Herder - who were two highly accomplished bomb-disposal experts working in Northern Ireland 40 years ago. Richard was killed after he was ordered to defuse a device under a car that he himself had declared unsafe to approach. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Defence covered up his death and the circumstances surrounding the car bomb that caused it. Subsequently, Richard’s brother, Lee disappeared.

Turns out that Lee is back for revenge. He wants the government to pay for ignoring his brother’s death and the way the British Army treated the memory of its fallen. What a gruesome route to take to seek vengeance.

A slow start at the beginning but the excitement picks up towards the ending. Another interesting thriller from Ryan for fans of Agent 21.