300 MINUTES OF DANGER

Ten action-packed short stories of survival, each taking place over the span of 30 minutes, will have readers on the edges of their seats.

George is in a charter airplane flying over the Russian wilderness on his way to a snowboarding camp (George calls it “boarding school”) when the plane malfunctions and the pilot jumps ship. Finding the only other parachute has been destroyed by a rat, George has to figure out what he is going to do before the plane crashes into the Urals. And that’s just the first story. Whether encountering a leviathan during a deep-sea excursion, becoming witness to a crime and then the object of pursuit, escaping a burning building, or avoiding exposure to nuclear radiation, the danger the characters experience in these plot-driven tales is palpable, reinforced with a countdown clock on the edge of each page. Each story stands alone (there are some interconnections) and immediately grabs the attention, making it easy to suspend disbelief in these far-fetched situations. Action-focused, the book offers little characterization or even description, suggesting a white default; one protagonist has an Arabic name and another a South Asian one. Sure to engage the most reluctant of readers, this will easily appeal to fans of Anthony Horowitz, Rodman Philbrick, and Lauren Tarshis’ I Survived series.

Breathlessly paced and engaging.