The Sacrifice

August 1, 2013
Grades 9-12 This fourth, and apparently not final, book in The Enemy series finds yet more reasons to send members from various kid strongholds out into the no-go zone, where the drooling, ravenous sickos seem to be developing a new kind of telepathic intelligence. But nine-year-old Sam is determined to join his sister in Buckingham Palace, so he takes to the lethal streets with two friends in tow, only to run across Higson's most unnerving character, religious nut Mad Matt, who believes that Sam is the Lamb that will lead the world from darkness. There's not much to differentiate teen leader Ed's subsequent rescue operation from similar sequences in previous volumes, and one is tempted to say the series is starting to generate diminishing returns. But the introduction of an intelligent sicko named Wormwood is a thrilling game-changer, and Higson once again impresses by largely avoiding sentimentality and romance to focus more realistically upon the pulped, scabby, pus-oozing threat. Onward we fight!(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2014
Scattered groups of kids continue their struggle to survive while cannibalistic adults prowl London in this fourth volume of the series. A deep sense of humanity motivates Ed and Sam to protect the vulnerable, while some, like Matt, turn to false religion. Only Shadowman recognizes that a dangerous new intelligence is burgeoning among the zombies. Chase scenes, mutilations, and new horrors abound.

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