MG Takes on Thursday – Sabotage on the Solar Express

#MGTakesOnThursday was created by Mary over at Book Craic and is a brilliant way to shout about some brilliant MG books!

To join in, all you need to do is:

• Post a picture of the front cover of a middle-grade book which you have read and would recommend to others with details of the author, illustrator and publisher.
• Open the book to page 11 and share your favourite sentence. 
• Write three words to describe the book.
• Either share why you would recommend this book, or link to your review.

Adventures on Trains: Sabotage on the Solar Express by MG Leonard and Sam Sedgman, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli, published by Macmillan

I was lucky enough to request and be approved to read an early copy of this on netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All views and opinions are my own.

Sabotage on the Solar Express is the latest book in this phenomenal Adventures on Trains series.

If you’re not already familiar with the books, you can absolutely read them out of order and behind here but you’ll also absolutely want to read more once you’ve started, so I recommend going back to where it all began with Hal’s first journey alongside his Uncle Nat on The Highland Falcon Thief!

You can read my reviews of the previous books here, here, here and here.

If you are already acquainted with Hal and Nat, you’ll know what a brilliant team they are; between their sleuthing and Nat’s responsibility for Hal, it’s a very carefully balanced model of a caring, trusting, respectful adult-child relationship which nevertheless retains a sense of fun.

And that is something which is once again epitomised here. Marianne’s shock at Hal openly bringing Nat in on their ‘secret’ investigation was telling and a memorable moment in the book for me.

And yes, that is Marianne Reza, daughter of August Reza, tech giant and billionaire who we first met in Kidnap on the California Comet. The pair (and long-suffering bodyguard Woody) return here as August announces the winner of his Reza’s Rocket competition to design a train for the future.

It’s brilliant to see these characters reunited and adjusting to the different dynamics they now have following their first journey together. Marianne is a character who’s really grown, and who continues to do so in this story, and who is increasingly likeable – something which surprises Hal as he’s begrudgingly drawn into working with her to solve the mystery and save the day.

I loved seeing them grow closer during this adventure, and we finish the book with Marianne (and colleague Michelle) feeling like really strong female role models in business, leadership and STEM which is great to see too.

As ever, surrounding them is yet another strong cast with interesting, diverse and believable characters – some likeable, some less so, all with a degree of suspicion hovering over them!

Like always, the fact that they’re all contained in one place heightens our sense of mistrust and doubt, but there’s definitely an added level of danger and peril in this book compared to previous cases. The excitement, adrenaline and action are all pumped up to the max, with a large dose of 80s/90s Hollywood action thrown into the mix with heart-pounding results.

With a sabotaged, unstoppable train; double-crossing and dangerous desertions; a ticking clock and a race against time; daring and dramatic escapes; highly improbable and unlikely homemade devices; big budget rescue attempts and electrifying explosions, this has everything to keep you on the edge of your seat (and can’t fail to raise a smile with adult readers familiar with this sort of movie!)

Oh, and those chapter headers 👌👌 I always keep an eye on the chapters in these books as there’s often a sneaky pun or reference in there. Sabotage takes it to the next level. Spot on.

The other thing I really liked here was the way they’ve played with Hal’s drawing style. He mentions himself taking inspiration from Marianne’s love of drawing comic books and so his (Elisa Paganelli’s) drawings this time incorporate a comic strip vibe, whilst still being recognisably Hal’s (Elisa’s).

And this illustrates nicely (pun totally intended) something which the whole book has done so well; this is now the fifth book in the series, by which point it’d be easy to worry that they’ll become stale or formulaic, predictable or samey, but this formidable trio have once again taken the premise somewhere totally new and changed it up enough to keep it fresh, whilst retaining its heart and feel.

There is, as would be expected, a strong environmental theme here too which provides food for thought both in the immediate and long term sense. I know I learned something reading it, and seeing Boaz’s passion and talent for environmental solutions was inspiring, so it’s especially exciting to think of the spark this could have in the hands of the next generation.

In short (yeah, I know…), MG Leonard and Sam Sedgman have somehow managed to expertly create their very own environmental action movie, turn it into a book which retains all the thrills, with illustrations that fit it perfectly, and a whodunit thrown in for good measure. Genius. I cannot wait to see where they go next!

My favourite sentence from page 11:

So page 11 of the e-copy I’ve been reading is page 1 of the book, so I’ll take it from there:

‘You’ll be so busy having your mind blown by the beauty of Australia,’ Uncle Nat had said, ‘that there’ll be no time for detecting.’

This book in three words:

Stop that train!

Have you read this? Do you think you’ll pick it up?