Jack Heath, The Peak (Spy Academy #1), Scholastic Australia, February 2024, 288 pp., RRP $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781761290473
Confession: This is the first Jack Heath book that I’ve read. This is despite Jack being a fellow Canberran, one who has penned over 40 novels, which I would find highly annoying if he wasn’t so damn likeable. After breezing through this page turner, I’m wondering what else I’ve been missing.
After thwarting a robbery at his new school, Nolan Hawker is recruited to an elite, off-the-map spy academy called The Peak, where he spends his days (and nights) learning covert communication, surveillance, aviation and other handy skills for a career in espionage. The aim: to dismantle an anarchist network aka Swarm, easier said than done when there’s a double agent in his midst. Will Nolan expose the mole before they destroy the world as we know it (and how)? I don’t read and tell, so you’ll have to dive in to find out.
Young fans and newcomers to Heath’s writing will find something to love in this pacy read, where tension on every page propels a masterfully executed plot, high on intrigue. Diverse characters, trademark twists, rising stakes, and plenty of veiled hints that there’s more than meets the eye, combine for a very satisfying payoff for readers.
As for older fans, next stop: the author’s adult debut thriller series, Hangman, followed by the whodunit, Kill Your Husbands. Heath is not only productive, but versatile! By the time I get through those books (and the ceiling-high reading stack on my desk), maybe Doomsday (Spy Academy #2) will be out.
Reviewed by Maura Pierlot
