Book Review: Nightrise

Nightrise by Anthony Horowitz
Click on the cover to find a library copy.

SUMMARY: Scott and Jamie have always been different. Not only are they twins--they can read each other's minds. Their whole lives, people have taken advantage of this. Now it's going to get much, much worse. An evil group called Nightrise has taken an interest in Scott and Jamie...and want to imprison them and neutralize their abilities. When Nightrise attacks, one of the twins is taken and the other breaks free. The stakes are even higher than Scott or Jamie could imagine...because both of them are Gatekeepers, and the fate of the world hinges on their survival. (from the inside flap)

OPINION: In this third book in the series, the plot shifts to introduce two more of the Gatekeepers. Interestingly, the timeline for this book begins during the action of Evil Star. Just as action-packed as the previous two volumes, this story also shows the great reach of the Nightrise Corporation and further describes how they are utilizing the evil unleashed through the Nazca Gate. The reader really starts to get a sense of what the Gatekeepers are up against, as Nightrise is revealed to be an insidious evil with its tentacles in every area of society, including juvenile prisons and the American presidential race. However, instead of further developing this intersection of reality and fantasy, the story devolves into a collection of cliched characters and truly outlandish plot devices. The part of the book that made the least sense for the story or for the series was when Jamie was gravely injured, only to find himself transported 10,000 years into the past to help the first group of Gatekeepers. Nonetheless, once Jamie returns to the present, the ending is a heart-pounding race that pits brother against brother in a race to save a presidential candidate from assassination. This part of the story was definitely classic Horowitz, and I felt a little rewarded for slogging through the whole middle section of the book. Overall, I would recommend Nightrise only for devoted fans of the series. New readers will definitely want to start with the first book, Raven's Gate.

The books in The Gatekeepers series:

1. Raven's Gate
2. Evil Star
3. Nightrise
4. Necropolis
5. ??