Split Second by Sophie McKenzie

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 368

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Released: 12th of September 2013

Bound together by the devastating consequences of a terrorist attack on a London market, teenagers Charlotte (Charlie) and Nat appear at first to have much in common. But, as Charlie gets closer to Nat and his family, she begins to wonder if perhaps he knows more about the attack than he has let on. Split Second is an action-packed thriller that shifts between the perspectives of its two main characters as their courage and their loyalties are tested to the limit.

What I Have To Say

I've been reading a few Sophie McKenzie books lately, trying to see what people like about her books. I have to admit that they weren't really catching me. They were good but nothing special. But now I've found a great one. The first few chapters of Split Second were gripping and it was really hard to put it down and go to bed (gotta stop starting books in the middle of the night).

While the training camp part was less gripping, it was a part that I really enjoyed. A lot of YA characters these days seem to already know how to fight for some reason, so it was interesting to see the characters having to learn how.

It would be lapse of me to finish this review without talking about the chilling near future reality that McKenzie has created. It's most worrying because she describes our world, our country, London! But gripped in a state of rampant poverty where the poor have to take free food bags from the government while the rich send their children to expensive schools.

This is the world we could live in. A world that may not actually be that far down the line. And isn't that thought terrifying?