''Jimmy Coates'' is a series of children's books written by the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

author Joe Craig. The books have been published in many countries and became widely available in the

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for the first time in 2013. The books are mostly set in the fictional

dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

of the "Neo-Democratic State of

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Series

Characters

Protagonists

* Jimmy Coates – a young,

genetically modified Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including th ...

assassin * Zafi Sauvage – another young, genetically modified assassin (who works for the French secret intelligence) * Mitchell Glenthorne – another young, genetically modified assassin (who works for NJ7) * Helen Coates – Jimmy's mother * Eva Doren – Georgie's friend who works in NJ7, but she is actually giving information to Jimmy about NJ7's plans * Georgie Coates – Jimmy's half-sister * Felix Muzebeke – Jimmy's best friend * Dr. Higgins – scientist who helped to create Jimmy * Christopher Viggo – campaigner and politician * Saffron – trained in the martial arts and Christopher Viggo's girlfriend

Antagonists

* NJ7 – the fictitious government agency that pursues, and designed, Jimmy Coates * Miss Bennett – Director of NJ7 * Paduk – ex Director of Special Security for the Neo-Democratic State of Great Britain * William Lee – Director of Special Security for the Neo-Democratic State of Great Britain * Ian Coates – Jimmy's father and, later, Prime Minister of Great Britain * Ares Hollingdale – the late and former Prime Minister of Great Britain * Dr. Higgins – part of the team that built Jimmy & Mitchell * Lieutenant Commander Luke Love * Mitchell Glenthorne – the first assassin created * Zafi Sauvage – the French child assassin * Uno Stovorsky – French Secret Service * Colonel Keays – a director with the CIA and Synperco

USA release

Shortly after the UK publication, Craig's first book was released in the United States under the title ''Jimmy Coates: Assassin'' but withdrawn shortly afterwards. During its short release, it was selected for, among others, the Lone Star reading list in TexasLone Star 2006-2007.pdf and the New York Public Libraries 'Books for the Teen Age' list.http://www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/bta2006.pdf The whole series was released for the first time in the USA across 2014 and 2015 by Open Road Media.

Critical reception

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

wrote of the first book: "Few books have the power to drag young boys away from their

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

but I've seen the Jimmy Coates series in action –

Super Mario (also known as and is a platform game series created by Nintendo starring their mascot, Mario. It is the central series of the greater Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise. At least one ''Super Mario'' game has been released for every ma ...

is no match for this schoolboy assassin." It was described by

School Library Association The School Library Association (SLA) is an independent organization in the United Kingdom which promotes library, libraries and literacy in schools. The SLA was founded in 1937 and is based at Kembrey Park in north-eastern Swindon. It is a chari ...

as "Packed full of shocks and surprises, high-octane action sequences, constant dangers and near-miss escapes from death, this is an at-a-sitting read for

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and Rider fans everywhere. With bags of film potential..." It was a finalist for the 2006

Manchester Book Award The Manchester Book Award is a project run in Manchester, UK, organised by School Services at the Manchester Library & Information Service; it is funded by the Working Neighbourhoods Fund. The project is currently in its fourth year. Each ye ...

, and won the

Bolton Children's Book Award The Bolton Children's Book Award is an annual award given to works of children's literature published in paperback during the previous year. The award is sponsored by Bolton Literacy Trust, The University of Bolton The University of Greater M ...

2006.

References

Jimmy Coates reviews

University of Bolton – Joe Craig Wins Book Award

Notes

External links

* {{Official website
Joe Craig's Official Website

Joe Craig's Blog

HarperCollins Children's Books – Joe Craig
Series of children's books Young adult novel series Junior spy novels Thriller novel series