The Lab, by Jack Heath

His stomach clenched. Blood pumped. Gravity kept pulling at him, and he kept accelerating. The wind tore at his hair and beat at his unprotected face, making him squint. Drops of water crawled upwards across his body, as though trying to escape the impact. His heart vibrated crazily, and the adrenalin flowed freely at the thrill of speed…He bent his legs slightly and braced himself for the impact, clenching his teeth.

As the strongest and most invincible agent in the Deck, a team of special agents fighting to uphold justice and values, Six of Hearts is used to getting into scrapes. Battling against ChaoSonic, the company that controls the city, the Deck sends Six on numerous dangerous missions to uncover and remedy injustice.

But Six has a secret. He is the product of illegal genetic experiments conducted by the Lab – a division of ChaoSonic. The agency he is fighting is the same one that created him. If the other members of the Deck find out, he could be expelled, or worse. Then, as he investigates the Lab’s current activities, Six meets a boy with identical DNA. Is Kyntak someone he can trust? Six must face his most dangerous mission yet.

The Lab is a thrilling young adult novel set in a chilling future of chaos and greed in a world almost destroyed by pollution and war. With a chilling, almost clinical telling, reminiscent of Matthew Reilly’s thrillers, it is aimed squarely at young male readers, in the high school age group, and is sure to appeal to such readers.

The Lab, by Jack Heath