Kitty Hawk and the Icelandic Intrigue
(Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency series, #3)
written by Iain Reading
304 pages // published in 2013 // young adult fiction
My Review...
19-year-old Kitty Hawk continues her trip around the world in her De Havilland Beaver seaplane. She's following the same route that Amelia Earhart once tangoed with.
And Kitty Hawk intends to have the best time of her life completing the trip.
"You are going on an adventure," she said. "And along the way you will see amazing things and meet amazing people..." (Chapter 12, Kitty Hawk and the Icelandic Intrigue)
When Kitty takes a rest stop in Iceland, she finds that there's so much to discover about the isolated country. And she also finds out (again) that for Kitty Hawk, there's really no such thing as rest stops!
The people in Iceland have many unique ways and their own Icelandic culture. Oh, and those people LOVE to read -- which allows them to take the title of being a "universally literate" nation. I got to read about all sorts of foods that the Icelandic people eat -- which interested me quite a bit. And I was also fascinated with historical events that took place in Iceland like the Halifax Explosion and what happened in Gander on 9/11. To top it off, the natural foundation of the ground in Iceland is fascinating in itself! -- This series makes learning about other countries fun for kids and young adults!
NOTE to the discerning reader & parents: I wanted to express a couple things about the content. Some "language" is used throughout the book. Also I found this particular book to contain a couple of small incidents referencing to more mature content.
There's also talk of elves (the "Hidden People"), many myths and legends, and a psychic too. I usually don't read a book with so many "magical" type elements in it, but I do enjoy Kitty's adventures.
I love the exciting storyline, suspense, and sense of adventure that Kitty Hawk exhibits. She wants to see as much of the world as she can.
And I have to say, I'm really looking forward to Book 4, because it concerns the tragic shipwreck of the Titanic. (Cannot wait!)
Thanks to the author and Book Publicity Services for the free review copy.
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About
the Author:
Iain
Reading is passionate about Root Beer, music, and writing. He is
Canadian, but currently resides in the Netherlands working for the
United Nations.
Excerpt from Kitty Hawk and the Icelandic Intrigue:
The bullet split the air with a dreadful ripping sound and whizzed past my ear like some horrifyingly angry insect. The experience was completely new and terrifying to me, and it was one that I could have happily lived the rest of my life without having had. After hearing the bullet rip past me (and feeling it, too, since such a terrible sound is felt as much as it is heard) everything that followed seemed to happen all at once in excruciatingly slow motion.
What was that?!? I asked myself as I bolted upright and my brain tried to make sense of what it had just experienced. But I already knew full well what it was. My brain was slow to accept what it already knew to be true, because with that acceptance came the realization that someone was trying to kill me, and had the bullet not missed, I would already be dead.
After accepting what was happening, panic began to set in. People sometimes talk about being frozen in fear—like a deer in the headlights of a car—but for me, the fear had the exact opposite effect. All I could think was that I needed to run; I needed to get out of here—right away—and to anywhere other than the middle of the road where I was exposed and vulnerable to being shot at a second time.
Fortunately, my brain had the good sense not to run toward the source of the gunfire, and I managed to scramble down the side of the road and take cover in the ditch. Somewhere up the road, men with guns were pulling themselves out of their wrecked automobile and planning to come after me. If I stopped breathing for a second and strained to listen over the sound of the wind, I could hear them grunting as they pulled themselves free of the car accompanied by the sound of broken glass raining onto the ground.
“You have to get out of here,” the little voice in my head reminded me. “You don’t have much time!”
I know, I told myself. I tried to breathe normally and stay calm. I didn’t have time to make any mistakes. Even the smallest misstep could cost me my life. All I could do was run, but where could I run to when I was on a road in the middle of nowhere? If I got back onto the road, I would be completely exposed, even in the dim light of the early morning.
“The only place you can run,” the little voice said, “is cross-country.”
I lifted my head for a second to see if anyone was coming after me. I couldn’t see anyone, but that didn’t mean no one was out there, so I kept my head low, ran across the ditch, and scrambled up the rocky ledge on the other side.
Please, God, don’t let them shoot at me now, I thought as I climbed up the ledge and out of the ditch.
Once I was at the top, I crouched low and surveyed the way ahead of me. The landscape was rocky and rough—full of places to hide and take cover.
“Maybe that’s what you should do,” the little voice suggested. “Maybe you should just find somewhere to hide? It’s pretty dark out here and there are plenty of shadows you could crawl into. Just hide somewhere until they decide to leave you here.”
I shook my head.
“It won’t be dark for long,” I murmured to myself as I looked toward the brightening horizon where the sun would soon be rising. “And I am not just going to sit around helplessly waiting for them to find me. I am going to get as far from them as I possibly can.”
“Then what are you waiting for?!?” the little voice replied, still panicked.
I peered over the ledge and back up the deserted road to where the shot that had barely missed me had come from. I still couldn’t see anything—not even the hulk of the wrecked car that I knew was back there—and no one was walking up the road toward me. I closed my eyes and tried to listen for any sound of movement over the howling wind.
“You have to go!” the little voice screamed. “They could be anywhere! They could be standing five feet away from you, ready to grab you again!”
The voice in my head was right. I had to go. But I kept listening, waiting for clarity. Somehow, I felt that I had to have some idea of where they were, because it terrified me much more not knowing anything at all.
And then I heard it—the faint sound of angry voices carried on the wind down the road toward me. They were speaking some foreign language, and they could have been saying just about anything, but I only heard, “That stupid girl is going to pay for this. Let’s go get her.”
A cold wave of fear washed over me. My heart pounded like a jackhammer, and a sickening chill poured deep into the pit of my stomach.
“Now I run,” I whispered to myself, and sprang to my feet. “Now I run like I’ve never run before in my entire life.”
