Among the Barons by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Book four in the Shadow Children sequence has once again left me breathless and keen to read on. These books are the perfect length and the plot line is so tense I devour each one in just a few short hours.

In Among the Barons we return to our hero Luke (Lee). The family that gave him his identity, The Grants, have sent their younger son Smithfield or Smits for short, to Hendricks school. In his grief at loosing his beloved brother Lee, Smits has blurted out at school that is brother is dead. His Mother and Father are Barons and they have worked hard to keep this information a secret. Lee (the real one) was in fact working for the resistance to undermine the government and the Grants who enjoy a highly privileged life at the behest of this same government cannot afford for this information to be leaked.

The biggest problem for Luke (and there are many) is not knowing who to believe. Smits has an overbearing and violent bodyguard who tells Luke one version of events and then the Grants themselves tell him something quite different. The only certainty is that Luke must be careful of chandeliers especially on the night of a big party hosted by the Grants and attended by the President himself.

I am usually not good at sticking with a whole series of books but I am sure I will read everyone of these and I am desperate to know how the sequence will end. The video I posted above is perfect. These US students are very skilled and I think it shows how much they enjoyed these books - these videos must take quite a lot of time to make.