Fast Paced, Thrilling Series: Review of The Unlisted #3 Sabotage by Justine Flynn & Chris Kunz

The Unlisted: Sabotage is the third book in this thrilling award-winning series that has also been made into an ABC TV show.

Here’s a bit of background if you’re new to the series – the Infinity Group, under the guise of the Global Child Initiative (GCI), is recruiting teens and aiming to control them with a device they implant during a routine dental check at school. The plan is to create an army of young soldiers that they can use for their own purposes – none of them good!

Identical Twins Dru and Kal are onto this and working hard to foil their attempts. However, there is one big difference between the two brothers, Kal has been implanted with the Infinity Group device and Dru managed to avoid it. Those without implants are ‘The Unlisted’ and they start to gravitate towards one another.

In the first book Dru and Kal meet up with a group of vigilante teens who have escaped implantation and live in tunnels underneath the city to avoid being discovered. In book three we see the twins once again working with this group and when their makeshift home under the city becomes uninhabitable the twins rush in to offer them a safe haven. However, having the group at their family home is risky in more ways than one.

The GCI has stepped up their attempts to capture and implant the unlisted and is in the process of employing what they refer to as Super Recognisers – people trained to recognise kids that don’t have an implant. How will ‘the unlisted’ know who to avoid when they all look like everyone else?

The school the boys attend is surrounded and the GCI are regularly sending officers around to check on ‘missing’ kids. Rewards are offered for those that provide information and it appears almost no one can be trusted. Tensions are high and there is a lot at stake.

Will Dru and Kal be able to get their friends to another safe place to hide and what will Dru do now that Infinity’s hold over Kal appears to be growing. Will they be forced out of hiding to take on the Infinity Group?

This is a fast paced, thrilling series that your 9-12-year-old reader will devour. The characters are relatable and issues of loyalty, family and changing friendships will have young readers going along for the ride but also storing away some important messages. I would recommend picking up all three just before the summer break as once they start, they’ll be hooked and that’s something you want to take advantage of!

Purchase a copy of The Unlisted #1 | The Unlisted #2: Rebellion | The Unlisted #3: Sabotage 

Read an extract from The Unlisted #3 Sabotage

Justine Flynn is a writer, director, producer and author based in Sydney. Justine created the ABC and Netflix Original Series The Unlisted, and partnered with Aquarius Films as producer, director and showrunner for the series. Justine has created and produced hundreds of hours of television and worked as a broadcaster and independent producer. A children’s book author, Justine recently wrote Miss Mae’s Saturday and co-wrote The Unlisted trilogy to accompany the release of the TV series.

Justine earned a BA in Drama at QUT and she is the mother of five wonderful children.

Chris Kunz is a writer, editor and publisher who works across the TV, film and publishing industries. She has written and script edited for children’s television, and has worked at various publishing houses, where she has been an editor and children’s publisher. Chris created, storylined and wrote bestselling children’s series with the Irwin family and Australia Zoo, and the RSPCA for Random House Australia. She has an MA in Theatre Studies from UNSW.