Memory Maze is the second book of Gordon Korman’s The Hypnotists series.  Second installments in a series can be difficult to keep at the same pace as the first, but Korman does a great job of continuing the fast action and convoluted plot of The Hypnotists.  The beginning feels a tad melodramatic, like he’s trying just a bit too hard to hook the reader, but it does the job; after the first chapter the book settles into a much more palatable rhythm.  As the Opus family settles into their new home in hiding, Jax struggles to understand and control his potent hypnotic powers.  The struggle of the extraordinary trying to fit in with the ordinary is engaging and believable, as is the turmoil caused when all Jax’s efforts to be invisible come to naught.  The pace of the book picks up to an almost dizzying speed at the climax, and leaves the reader with a cliffhanger that both resolves current issues and sets a compelling stage for new ones.  With new, interesting characters and the hauntings of old enemies, Memory Maze should satisfy all the cravings left from the first book, and create even more for the third.

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Scholastic Press (A Scholastic Imprint)

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:None

Violence/Gore:Description of battle, bullets flying, men dying, man shot in throat, grenade explosion and character’s reaction to undescribed results; a character hits head, almost drowns; nine year old boy attempts to throw brother down the stairs in rage; characters find broken body of a suicide victim, no details; character is shot in the stomach; a character bangs his face into cement stairs; character is punched; one character tries to stab another; character is involved in a brawl, punched in the face and nose broken; memory of a car crash; scene describing the dragging of a body from the water;  a character’s nonviolent death;  a character is grabbed and held in choke hold; character kicked in shins; character tackled to the ground; verbal threats;  a character dies a non-detailed violent death.

Sex/Nudity:None

Mature Subject Matter:

Conspiracy, mind control, kidnapping, death.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None