Gr 5-8 -Twins Jamie and Scott have psychic powers and Nightrise, a multinational corporation which has been kidnapping children with special abilities, wants them. Scott is captured but Jamie escapes and, in trying to rescue Scott, travels back in time where he learns that he and Scott are two of five child gatekeepers who are deterring "the Old Ones" from destroying mankind. The five defeat the old ones in a violent battle in the past, but Jamie learns that the threat is starting again in his time and Nightrise and its preferred presidential candidate are part of the threat. They plan to assassinate their candidate's opponent who is favored to win the election. Jamie must try to stop them. Anthony Horowitz has written a suspenseful story (Scholastic, 2007), and British actor Simon Prebble's narration helps keep listeners riveted. A few misplaced emphases in narration are a minor flaw, but generally the production is excellent with clear sound, well-paced reading, and appropriate voices for the characters. While listeners new to the series will have no trouble following the story, they will probably request the previous books/audiobooks in the series and eagerly await the next title.-Louise L. Sherman, formerly Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ

In this third of the Gatekeepers series, Horowitz ups the ante considerably when he brings the third and fourth of "The Five" into the story. Identical twins Scott and Jamie, abandoned in a cave sacred to the Washoe Indians, have bounced from foster home to institution and are headed for much, much worse. A preemptive strike by the evil Nightrise Corporation makes Scott a captive and leaves Jamie, the less effective of the mind-reading twins, to make the rescue. Time travel, visits to a dream universe and mind control add a fascinating occult element to this thriller. Horowitz truly knows his way around a plot; he keeps the tension at a nail-biting level throughout and makes the apocalyptic situation clear without getting bogged down in description of the two previous books. Characters exist to drive this plot-with the twins and a couple of others well-developed and the rest edging into stereotype. The smashing climax is totally satisfying while anticipating the world-saving to come. Stock up-it should fly off the shelves! (Fiction. YA)