A quick read that will certainly have its fans for its pacing.
A topical read, though one that feels somewhat rushed in such a short space of time. However, for the target audience it serves as a talking point.

I'll be honest, I wasn't sure about this book when I first requested it. I heard about a book that was about a young Muslim falling into ISIS before and it received a lot of criticism for it's negative portrayal of the Islamic faith. I know this book used to have a different name and I was worried that this was it with a new title! Having read it now, I am breathing a sigh of relief that I actually did like it and the message it was promoting, even though there were some other problems with it.

This book switches between three different characters/places: MI5 Agent Kate, Amir & Nasima who are young Muslim twins trying to make friends in a new community after their brother has shamed their family by running to Syria to join ISIS and Majid, the aforementioned brother who is back in London, full of regrets and hoping to atone for his crimes by helping MI5 stop another attack. My favourite chapters were with Majid and the twins, because they displayed a vast amount of research that Gibbons had put into finding out about Muslims, their faith and how ISIS operates. Amir & Nasima's chapters were very sweet and perfectly represented the life of a real Muslim family, that is to say, the life of any NORMAL family. Majid's chapters were tense and reflective, and I think he was the most fully developed character of them all.

Sad to say, Gibbons didn't put a whole lot of effort into Kate or her chapters. I saw no reason to like her, didn't understand why she did the things she did later, and tried to get through her parts as quickly as possible because they almost hit 'boring' for me. I also wasn't a huge fan of Gibbons writing. It was pretty basic, and a little immature at times. If it weren't for the horrific crimes and death being talked about on the pages of the book, I'd almost think I was reading a children's book. Still, there were certainly some moments that give great pause for thought and I liked the doses of political commentary here and there. A book like this certainly has the potential to spark up debate and offer a different view on things, which is what we need in this day and age!