Brainwashed - (Crime Travelers) 3rd Edition by Paul Aertker (Paperback)

About the Book

While sleeping on the roof of his father's hotel, 13-year-old Lucas Benes finds a baby alone and learns that the Good Company has restarted its profitable kidnapping business. Lucas leads a network of international teenagers through the hotspots of Paris in an all-out effort to spoil a brainwashing ceremony that could potentially turn them all into OGoodO kids.

Book Synopsis

While sleeping on the roof of his father's hotel, thirteen-year-old Lucas Benes finds a baby alone and learns that the Good Company has restarted its profitable kidnapping business. Brainwashed (Crime Travelers #1) tracks the secret urban adventures of the New Resistance, a network of international teenage spies. Lucas leads a group of friends through the hotspots of Paris-from the catacombs to the Eiffel tower-in an all-out effort to sabotage a brainwashing ceremony that could potentially turn them all into "Good" kids. A squeaky-clean international thriller for kids. A reluctant reader's dream.

Review Quotes

I was looking for a book for my 12 year old daughter who had hit a dry spell with engaging books she was willing to read to the end. A friend recommended this so I bought it. I thought I'd take a peek and see if it might appeal to my daughter before giving it to her. I couldn't put it down.

This book is a rip roaring ride through Paris with a truly likable main character and a cast of supporting characters as colorful as a band of Rhald Dahl characters. It's a page turner packed with cliffhangers that keep the pace brisk.

My daughter caught me reading it obsessively and giggling at Aertker's comic scenes. I told her what I was reading and why and she immediately demanded I hand over "her" book. She slipped into her room and didn't emerge. I peeked in and asked her if she liked it and she told me she LOVED it. I let her stay up late and pried it out of her hands at 11pm. (Then I finished it!).

She read Brainwashed for the next two nights and finished it. She said, and I agreed, that it's the most fun she's had with a book in a loooong time.

I was a 4th grade teacher for many years. This novel has an exciting plot, intriguing characters, and short, snappy chapters that speak to the middle grade reader and keep the pages turning. The hero of this novel, Lucas Benes (pronounced like Tennis) lives in a hotel with an international group of rescued homeless children who are being trained by Lucas's adoptive dad to counter the efforts of a powerful international child trafficking organization posing as a legitimate corporation. The story starts when Lucas finds a baby left at the hotel he lives in and this discovery sends Lucas and friends on a mission that never let's up. It's funny, smart, cleverly plotted and has real heart. I think any child from age 9-14 would love this book (and so would their parents). It's good, clean fun and the author make Paris shimmer with life. Enjoy.