Mysterium: The Black Dragon

Trouble has a habit of blowing up around Danny Woo. When a mysterious explosion at his boarding school leaves him with nowhere to go, his aunt and guardian Laura, a journalist, decides to take him with her to Hong Kong whilst she investigates a sinister criminal gang. Things rapidly spiral out of control: Laura is abducted almost as soon as they arrive, and Danny, aided by a dwarf strong-man named Zamora, must find her. Pursued by criminals and unsure of who he can trust, he embarks on an action-packed quest through Hong Kong, and along the way discovers more and more about his dead parents and the travelling circus of which they and Zamora were members: the Mysterium.

With its break-neck pace, entertaining cast of characters and surprisingly high explosion quotient, Mysterium: The Black Dragon will no doubt be lapped up by younger teenagers with a taste for action and adventure. This easy but thrilling read will grab the attention of reluctant or less confident readers, but its high levels of violence mean it is best suited to the older and less sensitive amongst them.