James Patterson and one of his better partners, Michael Ledwidge dive into a new area with this one. Patterson, who scored hits with his teen novels in the Maximum Ride series, delves deeper into science fiction with his newest tale. Fifteen-year-old Daniel has the weight of the world on his shoulders ... literally. When he was just three years old, he watched as his parents were killed by a large bug-like creature called the Prayer, who was on the prowl for the List. It was this List and their legacy that led Daniel to inherit the role of Alien Hunter, seeking out outlaws from all over the galaxy who have come to Earth, or Terra Firma, to cause all sorts of troubles. In a way, he is not unlike the Men in Black, except that he is solely on his own.

Through the twelve years since his parents died, Daniel has been eliminating various aliens on the list, and he has now tarketed Number 6, whose real name is Ergent Seth. This is the first time he has targeted someone in the top 10, and he thinks he is finally up to the challenge.

The novel starts off slowly and a bit jerkily as the readers learn about Daniel's life up until now. In a way, I almost fell light a rock skimming over lake water. There are a number of things that require the author to dispend belief, such as how a 3-year-old is able to not only tend to himself, but also come up with the money needed to survive.

As the the book continues, though, the story turns into an interesting and epic tale that leaves the future of two worlds hanging in the balance and only Daniel to prevent the ultimate destruction of both.

The book is written so as to be accessible to those in Grade 4 and up, and that is evident as the characters could have been a little further developed, but since this book ends in a way that makes it obvious that this is just the first in a series, I have a feeling that we will be seeing that desired development down the road.

If kides like this books, I would definitely lead them to Interstellar Pig and Parasite Pig by William Sleater.

In case you are wondering how he has been able to cause so much damage to the outerworld underworld, Daniel has a set of skills that are a boon. He is able to shape shift and also has telepathic abilities. They are much stronger books similar. I think part of the problem is that Patterson and Ledwidge dumbed things down a little too much