US Edition
Riley, a teen orphan boy living in Victorian London, has had the misfortune of being apprenticed to Albert Garrick, an illusionist who has fallen on difficult times and now uses his unique conjuring skills to gain access to victims’ dwellings. On one such escapade, Garrick brings his reluctant apprentice along and urges him to commit his first killing. Riley is saved from having to commit the grisly act when the intended victim turns out to be a scientist from the future, part of the FBI’s Witness Anonymous Relocation Program (WARP) Riley is unwittingly transported via wormhole to modern day London, followed closely by Garrick.
In modern London, Riley is helped by Chevron Savano, a nineteen-year-old FBI agent sent to London as punishment after a disastrous undercover, anti-terrorist operation in Los Angeles. Together Riley and Chevie must evade Garrick, who has been fundamentally altered by his trip through the wormhole. Garrick is now not only evil, but he also possesses all of the scientist’s knowledge. He is determined to track Riley down and use the timekey in Chevie’s possession to make his way back to Victorian London where he can literally change the world.
UK Edition
The Matrix meets Oliver Twist, WARP: The Reluctant Assassin is the first of a major new series by Eoin Colfer, the bestselling author of Artemis Fowl.
It all began with the FBI and WARP (Witness Anonymous Relocation Programme). Hiding witnesses in the past to protect the future - until now . . .
Riley is a Victorian orphan, hurtled into the twenty-first century and on the run from his evil master . . .
Albert Garrick, the terrifying assassin-for-hire pursuing Riley through time, along with . . .
Chevie Savano, the FBI's youngest and most impulsive special agent.
As Garrick relentlessly hunts them down, Riley and Chevie face a desperate race to stay alive and stop Garrick from returning to his own time - armed with knowledge and power that could change the world forever.
Colfer has the ability to make you laugh twice over: first in sheer subversive joy at the inventiveness of the writing, and again at the energy of the humour - Sunday Times
Readers mourning the end of the Artemis Fowl series can take heart: this first book in the time-bending WARP series is an all-out blast. - Publishers Weekly