At fourteen, Matt Cambridge has executed so many pranks - the latest nearly destroying his school - that his parents are out of discipline options. So his father pulls a few questionable strings to get his son into Camp Friendship: A camp that promises to strengthen the moral compass of today's youth. With a name like Camp Friendship Matt imagines three punishing weeks of daisy chains and Kumbayas.
Within minutes of arriving at the camp, however, Matt's nearly killed--twice. It doesn't take long for him to realize there's more to this picture-perfect place than meets the eye. What sort of summer camp has programs in forging passports? Why do they have endless fight training, and weapons drills, and what is with the hidden rooms? Matt wonders if his parents realize they've enrolled him in what seems to be some kind of freakish, elite spy school.
What Matt doesn't yet know - and is soon to find out - is that Camp Friendship's ultimate purpose is far more sinister than he could possibly have imagined. With each dot he connects, he begins to understand that in the end he'll be left with two choices: pull the prank of a lifetime to escape this place...or die trying
Title: Disruption (The Cambridge Files #1)
Author: Steven Whibley
Publication Date: March %, 2014
RATING: 5/5 STARS
Julie's Review:
Disruption by Steven Whibley was an interesting and fun concept, and for the most part well executed. When fourteen year old Matt gets sent to a ‘summer camp’ his dad signed him up for through work, he has no idea what he’s truly heading into. With every other kid in there seeming to speak their own language, and the activities far more barbaric than a regular camp promotes, it fast occurs to Matt that this is no ordinary camp. After a handful of very confusing days, with Matt’s rather clueless investigating sending his mind in all directions, he starts sliding all the pieces of the picture into place and comes up with a Picasso.
Just as the descriptions of the book might suggest, Disruption takes us on all of Matt’s activities (which are actually challenges—dangerous ones—he must pass in order to remain there), all the way to the end, where the ultimate challenge will declare him and his team the winner. Except, the end challenge is nothing like he expected. Nor is the gusto with which his fellow teammates seem to want to cause havoc to the public. Nor is the aftermath of chaos caused, or the CIA collaring him, or the reveal that everything he thought he had figured out is absolutely nothing like reality.
I think I marked this one down mostly because there are a few parts where the constant challenge after challenge became a bit monotonous, and with the added constant confusion on Matt’s behalf the story seemed to drag through the middle third of the book, picking up again as it neared the finish. Plus, there were a lot of unanswered questions (mostly involving his dad and how he managed to sign him for this camp in the first place) and the ending was pretty much a non-ending, which means if the reader wants to know how the story ends, they have little choice about picking up the next one.
Other than those couple of niggles, though, this was a fairly decent read.
Steve believes in pixies and fairy dust, and the healing power of unicorns. When he’s not writing epic tales of horned beasties, he’s working as a look-a-like for Brad Pitt, Ryan Reynolds, Zac Efron, and Seal. He spends his free time training hairless mole rats to be service animals for the colorblind, and dreams of one day inventing a Thanksgiving dish that will rival the infamous turducken.Steve also believes most readers do not read author biographies. (but just in case, he’ll do a real one once his website is fully updated :) )
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