10 Minutes of Danger by Jack Heath

Title: 10 Minutes of Danger

Author: Jack Heath

Genre: Adventure/Action/Thriller

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Published: 1^st July 2022

Format: Paperback

Pages: 192

Price: $14.99

Synopsis: 20 stories. 20 dangerous situations. 20 brave kids. 10 minutes to escape. Dodi is in the blast radius of an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Gary is stuck up a tree with a giant tsunami wave fast approaching. Tatum is climbing a caldera when an earthquake makes the volcano erupt. Read 20 new dangerous stories in 10 minutes of reading time each!

People & Places, Mysteries & Mythology

Reading Level: Upper Primary, Lower Secondary

School Year: Year 6, Year 7, Year 8, Year 9 Lexile Level: 680L Ages:10 to 14

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Jack Heath is back with twenty action-packed stories with various characters in all sorts of danger – from spider bites whilst bushwalking, being caught in an erupting volcano, being in the pathway of an asteroid, or trapped in a fiery shopping centre air vent, and doppelgängers from alternate universes, or self-driving cars taking off with unaware passengers – Jack Heath has created twenty new stories to chill, thrill, and terrify. These stories, like Jack’s work overall, are not for the faint-hearted, so proceed with caution, though those who do like being in  the edge of their seats will love these new offerings that at times, push the envelope a little but work so well.

Each story in this collection is written to be read within ten minutes as based on the average reading time, and takes us across twenty different heart-hammering, at times anxiety-inducing stories. Some end on cliff hangers, leaving us to visualise the outcome we think may have happened, whilst others wrap up in the nick of time, and others are interlinked – either by events, characters, or as a simple follow on, yet each is also its own story. I found it best however to read these in order just in case there were links between all or some of the stories, and the final few are interlinked by an organisation that I think was part of other stories in the Danger series. These stories show young people pushed to their limits, and I think Jack is doing a good job at coming up with new ways of putting his characters in perilous situations that in some cases, seem to lead to death or near death, and as scary as these stories were, as much as my heart was hammering while I was reading, I found that I was compelled to keep reading in one sitting, because I had to see if everyone was going to get out of their dangerous situations.

I’ve read a few of the danger books, and as I read the SPII stories, I did wonder if the other books in the series had SPII stories in them, and if the stories in this collection about SPII were part of a series – if so, I think it would be interesting to read them or to even have a whole series or anthology of SPII stories with their common thread running throughout. All of Jack’s books have raised the stakes somewhat, and I think he’s got the balance between that and a level of appropriateness in this book for kids, and I think those who love the Danger series will get great thrills out of this, whilst also being a great introductory book for other readers. I did like the stories that had a resolution, because I felt as though knowing the outcome helped. But the balance between those stories and a few where the outcome was uncertain, like the early ones, was done well, showing different ways short stories can be written. And as I said before some aspects of the stories lets imaginations run wild with theories about why something happened or how something concluded.

Overall, these stories give readers a chance to experience danger and thrills in a safe way, far from what the characters go through – and with the ability to set the book aside if they need a break, but I imagine many readers will be too caught up in the adventures to do so. (For me, setting it aside had more to do with trying to fit reading the book around everything else I had to do), and the book might also be a good chance to explore fears – to find ways to talk about them, if the reader is so inclined. The threats seem to be amped up in some stories, and I felt that this was done to encourage readers to position themselves in the story and ask them what they would do it if they ever found themselves in similar positions, so this is another great book from Jack Heath.