Kensy and Max: High Voltage by Jacqueline Harvey

Title: Kensy and Max: High Voltage

Author: Jacqueline Harvey

Genre: Mystery

Publisher: Puffin

Published: 28^th September 2021

Format: Paperback

Pages: 384

Price: $16.99

Synopsis: What happens when you know that family must come first but there are others in desperate need of help? When danger lurks around every corner?

After a tumultuous school term, a family holiday with sunshine, sleep-ins and Portuguese tarts is just what Kensy and Max need. And Granny Cordelia is adamant: there are to be no investigations while on vacation. But when strange incidents start piling up, the twins are torn between their loyalty and their nose for adventure.

As all leads point to the annual E-Prix championship, Kensy and Max find themselves drawn into the middle of a menacing plot. High-powered sports cars are not the only dangers on the streets of Sintra. Someone wants Wolf Motors and the Formula E car race to go up in smoke, and they won’t let anything – or anyone – get in their way.

~*~

Kensy and Max are off on a holiday with their family, and their friends, Autumn Lee, and Curtis Pepper after the events of book seven, as Granny Cordelia is still recovering from Novichok poisoning. They’ve all made a pact – no investigations, yet as they notice strange goings on coming from the E-Prix preparations, each member of the party finds themselves investigating anyway – and Anna is pulled back in, helping the kids with their investigation – but are they the only ones doing it, and are there too many sides to the investigation for one group to handle?

Another Kensy and Max triumph from Jacqueline Harvey, this time set in Portugal, with just as much action as the previous seven. Each book has built on the previous one, and this one is no exception as Kensy, Max, their family and friends are embroiled in something they never thought they would be and as their plans go awry. Of course, things are never smooth sailing in Kensy and Max as they uncover kidnappings and nefarious plots, as well as trying to find out who keeps going after their family and why – the latter a recurring theme throughout the series.

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As always, Kensy and Max uses a cipher in the chapter titles – in this book it is the Rosicrucian Cipher, which is similar in some ways to the Pig Pen Cipher used in book one, giving the book a fun and interactive feel as readers decode the chapter titles as though they are secret messages between spies. Each plot point in this book leads to an exciting conclusion, and everything the characters do is necessary for the storyline. It encapsulates the fun of being a kid with the awesomeness of being a spy – Kensy ad Max are living the dream, it seems. If you don’t mind constant danger being flung at you.

I’ve been loving this series since I first started reading it, and am now up to date and ready for book nine when it comes out – and hopefully, we will get some answers about those who are trying to hurt Kensy and Max and their family. Another great Kensy and Max book!