The Dangerous Days of Daniel X
by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge
Purchased: Library bookstore
This was a fun little gem of an alien hunting book and it is the first in a series. Daniel’s parents were killed by the worst alien on earth, number one on The List of big, bad uglies. Daniel was 3 years old at the time and managed to shift shape and hide from him. Since then he has taken over the family business of keeping earth safe from “bad” aliens and been working on removing the bad guys permanently. But for some reason, now that he is 15, he decides it is time to work on taking out #6 on the list, Seth Ergot.
Daniel gets to LA and decides to go back to school to avoid truancy cops, makes a friend and avoids Seth and his henchmen, for a while. All sorts of stuff happens. Daniel almost doesn’t make it. It is crazy! They go off-planet, meet some family and clean up some stuff that needs cleaning. Daniel isn’t all powerful, though he has some awesome abilities. He makes mistakes and learns from them. He loves his friends and his parents, has a few crush moments which are cute and he is a genuinely nice guy.
It is a super fast read, most chapters are 2-3 pages in large type. It has gotten a little crazy actually. I mean, really? Three paragraphs or a new thought and done! Chapter 87 is over. You feel like a monster speed reader. I picked it up because I hadn’t been able to finish anything with all this family that decended on me for two weeks in a row. I also add easy items to my to-do lists so I can easily feel like I am accomplishing things…keeps me motivated and this book was like that. Yay, two hours and a whole book is complete! But luckily I enjoyed the storyline and had a good time reading it. My 12 year old niece loves Patterson now because of the Angel Experiment books, so I got this for her and decided to read it too. Anyway, fun for kids and adults. 4 stars as it is a compelling read, well-done character, great start to a new easy series and just plain fun. Great for boys and girls 10 maybe? and up. My friend’s 9 year old son just started it, is a little confused but is totally loving it.
I have a ten year old who might really love this! Thanks.
Ooooh, I hope they do! Tell em to stick through the first couple chapters where you go – what?! How can he do that?! Then they will get sucked in.
Oooh, a good alien book is what I need.
That is awesome, you will enjoy this one
I love James Patterson – but haven’t read this one yet. I think it might have to go on my ‘to read’ list
It was super fun – definitely worth it
Very cool! I didn’t know James Patterson wrote middle grade fiction. I’ll have to keep this in mind.
Jonathan
http://www.ireadabookonce.com
It was tons of fun! If you like Patterson and what he does, he makes it even more fun for the younger set.
Ohh wow, this sounds quite interesting. I though that James Patterson only did thrillers of the normal human variety. The chapter thing sounds cool, I often feel like it takes me ages to finish a book!
Great review.
Oh you would love this one then! Quick quick and super fun!
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