Among the Enemy by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Shadow Children #6

From the Publisher

An ache grew in his throat and he wanted to sob, but he set his jaw and held it in. He'd been wrong to send Nina away, wrong to refuse to help her, wrong to let the commander treat him like a pet. He'd been wrong to think that everything ended when he lost Percy and Alia....I can stop this evil, he thought.

The Population Police are gaining more and more power, and illegal third-borns are in increasing danger. Young Matthias finds himself caught in the cross fire between the Population Police and the rebels — and unwittingly ends up saving the life of a Population Police officer. By way of reward, the officer takes Matthias to the luxury of Population Police headquarters to train him to become one of their own. There, among his most feared enemies, Matthias encounters Nina, another illegal third-born, who enlists his help in a plot to undermine the Population Police. But Matthias is under constant scrutiny, he has no idea whom he can trust, and he's mourning the loss of his friends Percy and Alia. What can one boy do against a wicked bureaucracy?

In the most exciting Shadow Children book yet, Margaret Peterson Haddix examines how the courage of individuals can make an impact on growing evil.

My Opinion

Another fantastic chapter in this chilling story.

In this book we meet back up with Matthias, Percy and Alia who we met in an earlier book. Just three young third children who were abandoned by their parents and raised by a kind old man named Samuel until his death when they found themselves on the streets struggling for survival. Last time we met them the were in a Population Police prison with Nina. After proving her loyalty and helping the three children escape from the prison, Mr. Talbot helped the kids by putting into a school under fake ids. But when the Population Police come to the school in the middle of the night and take all of the students away to be placed in Work Camps, Matthias finds himself faced with many choices to make, and results that he did not count on.

Through a string of events that leave him alone and desperate, Matthias finds himself at Population Police Headquarters, marked as a hero. Amongst those who have tried to kill him and his friends their whole lives, he has to face some hard choices and grow up much too quickly.

Fantastic story and I can not wait to see how it all ends in the next book!