For those who don’t know the Ruby Redfort books, Ruby comes across superficially as an average teenage girl, but she is far from average, a code breaking genius working for Spectrum 8, who puts her life on the line on a regular basis. Having been left on tenterhooks at the end of book 4, Pick Your Poison starts with a flashback when Ruby remembers how she saved herself from being killed by a Western Rattlesnake. This sets the scene for the poisonous deadly crimes to follow in this fast paced book.
Attending the Explorer Awards, her socialite mother Sabina is suddenly taken ill. Ruby suspects foul play. A convict who Ruby has crossed paths with before has recently escaped from prison. Characters from some of the previous books crop up again to cause mayhem. Ruby has to use her field agent skills and intelligence to try and foil the criminals’ plans.
This book is a great read and has the same down to earth sarcastic Ruby style as the previous books. It is also humorous as well as being as quick-witted and as entertaining as ever. Pick Your Poison ends on a nail-biting cliffhanger after many plot twists when you cannot quite discern what is true. I enjoyed this book very much, as I have all of the others. I would recommend this book, and the series, to both girls and boys 10+ but do start with the first book and read them in order or you will be confused. Hurry up book 6!
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop
