Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

Published as a hardback last year, and bafflingly chosen by The Sunday Times as its book of the week, Maximum Ride is the literary equivalent of fast food at its least nutritious. Written in 125 short, breathy chapters, it tells the story of six mutant orphans, all of whom have had wings grafted upon them as babies. Flying round America in perpetual flight from the Erasers, their deadly were-wolf enemies, they escape imminent capture time and time again in their quest to discover the secrets of their birth. Talking to each other in streetwise, tough-guy language, they are led by Max, their determinedly monosyllabic 14-year-old leader. Sentimental and sadistic in equal measure, this novel was inspired by the same author’s best-selling adult titles, which also feature various winged characters. Some paranoid tension still remains in this present book, but most of the time this is soon dissipated by a repetitive plot involving too many false climaxes. A sequel is promised, should anyone still be interested. NT