Gilman, D. (2007). The Devil’s Breath. New York: Delacorte Press.
ISBN-13: 978-0-385-73560-5
Plot Summary
Fifteen-year-old Max Gordon attends a private all-boys boarding school near a military training zone in England. Something is amiss when he narrowly escapes an assassin’s shot. When he gets back to his room, items are misplaced. Furthermore, his brilliant ecological adventurer father, Tom Gordon, is missing and presumed dead. Max then sets out to find his father and his adventure leads him from Europe to Africa. Along the way, Max makes new friends who help: !Koga is a bushman boy who understands the language in Africa and Kallie is an aviator. Together with the help of his computer genius friend Sayid back in boarding school, Max and his new friends encounter numerous complications such as extreme weather, car chases, hand-to-hand combat, poisonous arrows, and evil monkeys. When Max learns that his father is caught up in Shaka Chang’s monstrous plot of water pollution that could kill thousands of people, he must find his father and stop Chang in time.
Critical Evaluation
The story opens with the attempted assassination of Max Gordon, and the plot does not let up from there. The twists and turns of this adventure story lead the reader to multiple locations; some readers might be easily confused by such quick setting changes. However, it is these unrelenting twists and turns that create the fast-paced plot. In fact, The Devil’s Breath is very much like Horowitz’s Alex Rider books. Readers will be intrigued by the Bushmen people’s language as it is translated by !Koga for Max. The African setting is significant because it is as foreign to Max as it probably is to the reader, and the detailed descriptions of this unfamiliar place add to its intensity. However, sometimes the descriptions can be quite lengthy and the reader might feel lost. The reader will recognize clear references to the ecological dangers of water pollution.
Reader’s Annotation
Max Gordon’s adventurer father is missing and Max, with the help of his friends, faces dangers in the African wilderness to try to find him. When he realizes the evil plan that will kill thousands, Max must find his father before it’s too late.
Author Information
David Gilman is a successful television screenwriter in the UK and was a writer for a show called A Touch of Frost from 2000-2009. Before that, the sometimes tragic turns of events in his own life provided him with experiences that took him all over the world. He grew up in Liverpool, England and because his father’s job required him to move every six months, Gilman attended many different schools. He was always looking for new experiences and frequently went missing from the time he was four. When he eventually found a love of books at a public library, he continued to get lost in the worlds he found in the pages. Of reading, he says, “I’m convinced that reading helps to socialize even the most disadvantaged or disruptive child and makes an enormous difference to communication skills. Reading lights up synapses other activities can’t reach!”
Gilman held a variety of jobs while living in South Africa before going to school to learn how a screenwriter. His many jobs working in a dairy and in a clothing emporium where he learned how to tailor clothes. He lied about his age to become a traffic cop and then as part of a Fire and Rescue Service. His jobs took him from South Africa to England to Canada to Australia and back to England again. There, he became a screenwriter for a television show and novelist.
More information about David Gilman can be found on his website:
Genre
Young adult
Action Adventure
Survival
Curriculum Ties
Geography, environment
Book Talking Ideas
What would you do to help someone you loved? What kinds of adventures would you expect to have in South Africa?
Reading Level/ Interest Age
Main character is in high school; appropriate for ages 15 and up
Challenge Issues
N/A
Challenge Defense
N/A
Why did I include this title?
Evil monkeys. Enough said. Seriously, though, this novel does feel an awful lot like an Alex Rider novel for an older crowd. It is fun to read. Fans of Alex Rider novels will enjoy this ride.
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