The Trigger Mechanism

by Scott McEwen, Hof Williams

Overview

The Trigger Mechanism is the second book in the Camp Valor series by the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of American Sniper, Scott McEwen.

When, Jalen, a young gamer, puts on a set of VR goggles and logs into an online video game, he enters a digital world where, as in most games, points are awarded for kills. Only this time, unbeknownst to Jalen, the game has been reengineered by a cyberterrorist known as Encyte so that real human lives are taken with the click of a button. When Jalen logs off, he learns he’s just killed fifty-three innocent people.

Wyatt Brewer, Camp Valor’s top camper, is tapped to investigate and see if a link exists between Encyte and The Glowworm Gaming Network, which Wyatt helped dismantle the previous summer. Wyatt is still reeling from the losses inflicted by Glowworm and by the betrayal of his mentor, Sargent Halsey. When Wyatt meets Jalen, he finds a clue, and Julie Chen, a teenage prodigy and gaming superstar known as Hi_Kyto becomes the leading suspect.

Wyatt knows he’ll need Jalen’s help if he has any chance of penetrating the gaming world and getting close to Hi_Kyto. And Jalen will need Camp Valor if he’s going to have any chance of rebuilding his life and finding redemption.

But as the summer season starts at Valor, the Department of Defense threatens to shut the secret program down. A reclusive billionaire and Camp Valor alum offers a way forward—funded by him but without Valor for protection. Jalen and Wyatt are forced to consider going out on their own if they want bring Halsey to justice and to stop Encyte.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250088260
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/11/2020
Series:	The Camp Valor Series , #2
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	555,708
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	12 - 16 Years

About the Author

SCOTT MCEWEN is the author of many books and the co-author of #1 New York Times bestseller American Sniper, which has sold more than one million copies and has been translated into over twenty languages. American Sniper, the movie starring Bradley Cooper and directed by Clint Eastwood, was the number one movie in the United States for that year, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning one. He lives in San Diego, California, where he began writing while practicing law.

HOF WILLIAMS lives in Westport, Connecticut. The Trigger Mechanism is the second collaboration between Williams and McEwen.

SCOTT MCEWEN is the author of many books and the co-author of #1 New York Times bestseller American Sniper, which has sold more than one million copies and has been translated into over twenty languages. American Sniper, the movie, starring Bradley Cooper, and directed by Clint Eastwood, was the number one movie in the United States for that year, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning one. He lives in San Diego, California, where he began writing while practicing law.
HOF WILLIAMS lives in Westport, Connecticut and has collaborated with Scott McEwen on the young adult novel, Camp Valor.

Editorial Reviews

"The adrenaline-inducing story of Wyatt’s path to American glory may well inspire readers to look for a way they too, like Valor campers, can make a difference. This action-packed sequel will leave Valor-lovers aching to know: what happens next?" —Florida Times-Union

"Action-packed....Like Camp Valor, this is a real page-turner with appeal to action/adventure fans, who will be delighted to learn another volume in this burgeoning series is planned. Onward!" —Booklist

Praise for Camp Valor:

"This pro-America book could buck the left-wing YA trend." —New York Post

"Reluctant readers will doubtlessly enjoy this fast-paced action-adventure book and look forward to the inevitable sequel." —Booklist

"Wyatt’s on his way to becoming the next huge literary hero for the 18-and-under set....Will have readers white-knuckling through." —The Florida Times-Union

"A lurid, unvarnished crossover by the co-author of the bestselling American Sniper (2012), with clear potential for both sales and sequels." —Kirkus Reviews

"Like nothing else. Exciting and genre smashing, the book feels destined to inspire a generation. McEwen and Williams execute what we all want in a thriller: imagination that soars and a gritty realism that is so close to what we see daily it’s frightening. If Camp Valor existed when I was a kid, I would have tried to sign up."
—Doug Stanton, New York Times bestselling author of Horse Soldiers (soon to be the major motion picture 12 STRONG) and In Harm's Way

"Camp Valor nails today's dangerous Dark net World on so many levels. Teaching our kids a defensive skill set to live in today's threat environment is not only smart, it may well be crucial to their very survival. Gritty, real, and raw, McEwen once again takes his characters to places others are unwilling or unable to venture. Read it, then give it to your kids to read it!" —Rob O'Neill, Former Senior Chief, US Navy SEAL; New York Times Bestselling Author of The Operator: Firing The Shots That Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years As A SEAL Team Warrior

“I couldn’t put it down. CAMP VALOR is a powerful story makes you want to run outside and take on the world’s mysteries, just like great books have always done.” –Frank Miniter, New York Times bestselling author of The Ultimate Man’s Survival Guide

From the Publisher

12/13/2019

Gr 9 Up—In this intense sequel to Camp Valor, Jalen, a young teen, gets tricked into killing 53 people via a hacked virtual reality setup. The action and violence do not slow down from that inciting incident, with Wyatt from the first book stepping in to help Jalen navigate this new world of government secrets. The two of them must track down a famous gamer, a teen girl who goes by Hi Kyto, and prevent Encyte, the cyberterrorist, from taking over smart devices all over the world. Jalen must attend Camp Valor, a secret summer camp to train teenagers in covert operations, though the Secretary of Defense wants to shut it down. Too many side plots and minor characters keep the book from moving along quickly, which is a downside for any striving readers who may be inclined to pick it up. The fantasy of teens playing a major role in a government agency and receiving help from a reclusive billionaire is appealing, though, and the video game themes are explored fairly well. Unfortunately, stilted dialogue and over-exposition keep this book from advancing to the next level. VERDICT This overstuffed action novel is all flash and no substance. Purchase only if the first book is well-circulated.—Gretchen Hardin, Bee Cave Public Library, TX

School Library Journal

2019-11-10
With help from a reclusive billionaire, teen supersoldiers tackle a cyberterrorist in this sequel to Camp Valor (2018).

The main suspense comes from wondering when the chases and firefights are finally going to start. Traumatized by the discovery that he's been duped into mowing down a crowd of real pedestrians in what he thought was a virtual truck, online gamer Jalen Rose is recruited by Valorian agent and co-protagonist Wyatt to join him in an unauthorized mission to find the instigator, Encyte. There are suspects aplenty. Their patron, tech tycoon John Darsie, points them toward one possibility: his own employee Julie Chen, a brilliant (not to mention "tough and a little boyish, but cute") 14-year-old gamer and software designer. Despite a series of cyber exploits, including a high-casualty riot fueled by pheromones, there are so many distracting subplots—notably the hunt for a traitor from the first volume, the arrival of a government official who orders the camp shut down because she can't see the value of a cadre of secretly trained child warriors (go figure), and a developing relationship between Jalen and Julie—that the pedal doesn't really hit the metal until some time after the real villain makes a tardy first entrance. Jalen is African American and Wyatt is white.

Slow off the mark and gratuitously violent but cooking with (nerve) gas by the end. (Paramilitary thriller. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews