[rating:78/100]

Synopsis

Jonah and the rest of the elite team of teenage thieves have been sent on a mission by Coldhardt to retrieve an ancient grimoire. He believes it to be a magical book of the law of the dead. Something like that could fetch a very good price in the right market. But when they go in to get it, they discover another team of thieves has beaten them to it.

Even more disturbingly, this team is better trained, and better informed. It seems Coldhardt’s old mentor, a man he thought was dead, is not only very alive, but has a highly efficient rival organisation, and a devilish plan to wipe out Coldhardt.

Only the best will make it. In a thrilling adventure with brilliant plotting and fiendish twists, join Jonah faces his toughest challenge yet – but will it be his last?

The third in the series of Stephen Cole’s series about a crack team of young thieves, The Bloodline Cipher, sees Jonah Wish and his friends, Tye, Con, Motti and Patch, face their most dangerous job yet. This time out, their enigmatic leader, Nathanial Coldhardt, sends them after an ancient grimoire – a valuable artifact that could fetch a fortune in certain circles, and Coldhardt is desperate to get it, but is he more interested in the secrets rumoured to be inside, for himself, than making money?

They are not the only team to be after the grimoire, a rival gang always seams to be one step ahead, of them, more skilled and far far more deadly, they appear to be willing to do anything -including killing anyone who gets in their way – to beat Jonah and the rest of the gang to the secrets held within.

An adventure that will take in trips to LA, the Philippines and a visit back to the UK; an adventure that will put their very lives in danger; an adventure that will reveal secrets about Coldhardt, that he has kept hidden for many years. Will Coldhardt sell them out to get his hands on the artifact? What is his connection to Heidel, a man apparently back from the dead and why do all the answers point straight back to Coldhardt himself?

Once again Cole, populates his book with well rounded likable good guys who will do anything to protect their “family” who develop and grow throughout the story, and proper bad guys who will stop at nothing for revenge. It all adds up to a cracking tale that’ll keep you turning the pages right to the end.

One thing is for certain, nothing for Johan, Motti, Tye, Con and Patch, will be the same once this adventure is over.