LitPick Review
Identity Swap, the second book in The Card People series, starts with a good summary of the first book. The mystery to find out what happened to a disappearing father and the nanodust he created has turned into a national security issue. The CIA, military, and police are now involved. Everyone wants custody of the card people to suit their own agenda and figure out exactly what they are.
Still curious, Paul sneaks away from home and heads to his father’s former lab at MIT with Jack (Jack of Diamonds). They’re looking for nanodust that Paul’s father may have hidden there. Of course, they get caught and squirm out of the situation. Then they realize that while they were gone, Sam, Paul’s brother, has been kidnapped by David Westfield’s people, who also are continuing to make a form of nanodust that animates objects to do evil. Paul decides having a disguise will make it easier for him and his friends to thwart Westfield’s efforts and rescue Sam, so he switches bodies with one of the card people.
Since everyone’s learning how nanodust works by trial and error, Paul and Jack have to be extra careful with it as they try to stay one step ahead of Westfield. Plus, the more that’s used to save everyone from trouble, the less will be available when Paul wants to switch back to his own identity. Because no one knows how that will work either, the book is full of surprises that make it almost impossible to put down before it ends!
Opinion:
I enjoyed Identity Swap every bit as much as the first book in The Card People series because it’s so zany and suspenseful! Paul and his friends don’t know whether they can trust anyone with the CIA, military, or police. Some of them might be working for David Westfield. At the lab, Paul is shocked to realize Curtis, a colleague who worked with his father, must have switched sides, but no one knows for sure whether he did or not. Then a new character named Amra is introduced who is full of mystery, but she’s actually keeping a family secret she doesn’t readily want to share.
All of the members of the card people that survived the first book’s adventures, even the kids, often find the most unexpected ways to show off their personalities and wind up helping Paul. More inanimate objects also keep coming alive, either to rescue and protect or to hurt and destroy! They’re always appearing out of nowhere! I think the best part of this book is getting to know these amusing characters and seeing what role they play in Paul’s missions.
Like the first book, this story has so many characters and such a well-developed plot that it should appeal to almost anyone.
