Will, Jim, Meredith, and Nicki have finished their Christian outreach program in the Central American country of Costa Verdes. But hours short of their flight home, revolution breaks out and they are held for execution by a murderous rebel named Mendoza. Thankfully, the teens' driver/pilot happens to be an ex-marine, and under his brutal leadership, they are able to escape into the jungle, where they must brave weather, snakes, raging rivers, crocodiles, and the pursuing rebels as they make their way to an airfield. Average teen Will, 16, narrates from a benumbed perspective as the abstract violence of his video games back home in California becomes real. Though Klavan's conservative messages aren't pushed as strongly here as they were in the Homelanders series, some supporting characters do feel purposeful. The prose veers between flippant ("I was hungry. As in: way hungry") and quite emotional, as when Will, about to be executed, envisions his enemies as beautiful. Klavan can certainly orchestrate action, making this a natural for fans of David Gilman's Danger Zone series.

We came to Costa Verdes to build a wall. I just wish I could tell you that all of us made it home alive." Members of a church-group mission to rebuild a school in a Central American nation find their flight home delayed by a violent revolution sweeping the countryside. Teenage Everyman Will Peterson narrates a struggle for survival alongside several stock characters (such as a sweet but shallow pretty girl, a well-meaning but out-of-touch youth pastor and an intellectual, professorial America-blaming idealist, Jim). Socialist-sympathizing Jim contrasts with pragmatic former U.S. Marine action hero Palmer. The transparency of Klavan's political agenda is in part mitigated by an increasing focus on the emotional and spiritual lives of the more fleshed-out characters on their journey through jungles and captivity. Will, when he's not trying too hard to be a typical teen so readers can identify with him, is thoughtful and self-possessed. Through a blooming mentor-mentee relationship, he learns the meaning of heroism. Background on the political situation between the rebels and the government (plus history of Cold War CIA involvement) is deployed as necessary, keeping the narration personal and immediate. The resolution suffers from a disappointing lack of denouement, especially considering how far the characters have come. Fast-paced with multiple threats, genuine tension and lots of machine guns. (Adventure. 12-17)

Gr 8 Up-This gripping novel will hold readers' attention from the opening pages until the end. Will Peterson is one of five members of a team that has traveled to a fictional country with an unstable government in Central America. Their job on this Christian outreach mission was to rebuild a wall of the school that was destroyed by the Volcanoes, the local gang of rebels. The book opens with the team still in the small town waiting to go home after completing the mission. Just as ex-marine Palmer Dunn enters the cantina to pick the group up, the rebels rush into town to take over. Palmer, Will, and his friends are imprisoned and must find a way to escape. Gunshots, machine guns, and killing ensue. The group finds a way out of every harrowing situation, but there are consequences. Not all of them make it home. Klavan's Christian bent comes through in the story as Will's thoughts are peppered with his feelings about God and the men who try to inflict violence upon his friends as well as death, which the group faces many times over during the course of their escape. This book will appeal to anyone who is looking for a fast-paced adventure story in which teens must do some fast thinking to survive. Elizabeth Kahn, Patrick F. Taylor Science &; Technology Academy, Jefferson, LA