The Lab

The Lab, by Jack Heath, is a sci-fi thriller about Agent Six of Hearts, a 16 year-old superhuman who is an agent of the Deck, a team of special agents fighting to uphold the Code (a list of humanitarian rules similar to the Geneva Convention) in a city that’s under the iron grip of the ruthless company ChaoSonic. But Six has a deadly secret. He is the product of a Code-breaking and illegal genetic experiment by the Lab, an equally- ruthless division of ChaoSonic. When the Deck begins investigating the Lab, Six tries hard to keep his origins a secret from the other Deck agents. But then he meets Kyntak, a boy with the same genetically engineered DNA. As Six’s life spirals out of control, he must face his most perilous mission yet. And it might not be a one that he survives.

My favorite part of the book was when Six fights a ChaoSonic combat robot in a fight to the death. The robot has enhanced reflexes, and it’s almost impossible to penetrate its body armour. Jack utilized his descriptive powers to the fullest here so I felt like the fight was going on in front of my eyes! This is yet another superb trait that Jack has, an amazing descriptive ability. If I had a million dollars, I would give that and more to him, because he was only 13 when he wrote The Lab. I didn’t like sci-fi that much when I started this book, but once again Jack’s style of writing kept me hooked until the last word.

Jack Heath’s style of writing is one that depends heavily on elaborate twists in the story and dead ends where a reader is left scratching his head. To further spice up the action-packed chapters, he adds steep cliffhangers; near-death scenarios and suspense that mounts up until you can’t take it anymore and you have to turn the page. In that lies the secret to Jack’s success. He writes so that it is incredibly hard to not feel the urge to keep reading. This book was so good that when my mother called me for dinner, I was furious!

Jack Heath was born on August 23 1986 in Sydney. He is writer of young adult fiction and other than his Six of Hearts series he has written the Ashley Arthur series. His work is often compared to the work of Robert Muchamore, author of the CHERUB series and Anthony Horowitz, author of the Alex Rider series. All three authors have the same traits in their stories, which include redemption, coming of age, commercialism, conspiracy, corruption, greed, heroism and many others. Jack says that he writes only to “keep people entertained from the first page to the last.” If that is his goal, he’s certainly achieved it. When Jack was 13, he wrote The Lab to impress a girl who liked reading. He finished the first draft at 17. He sent it to publishers, keeping his age anonymous until he was sure they liked it. For a 17 year-old boy that’s not too bad!

For all you sci-fi lovers out there, if you don’t read this book and the other books in the series, then you’re missing out on some thing really good.