The Dangerous Days of Daniel X

James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge
Little, Brown and Company (2008)
ISBN 9780316002929
Reviewed by Wendy Cleveland for Reader Views (6/08)


“The Dangerous Days of Daniel X” revolves around teenager Daniel, who, at the age of three, loses his parents to aliens.  Come to find out, he is a descendent of the Alien Hunters from the planet Alpar Nok -- Daniel, son of Graff, son of Terfdron.  Before his parents die, they tell him that he must find “The List of Alien Outlaws on Terra Firma,” which is Earth.  He finds the list and the number one alien is called “The Prayer,” who is the one who killed his family.  Come to find out, Daniel is also a shape shifter who can turn into anything he wants including ticks and elephants.  He also has the ability to make things from his memory appear like his parents when the cops came to his house wondering why he wasn’t in school.

Throughout the novel, Daniel is trying to live a normal life while trying to kill off all of the aliens on this list.  One of the most dangerous aliens was number six, Ergent Seth, who is known for kidnapping children to sell to other aliens for use as slaves.  Little does Daniel know, but Ergent Seth is a hard alien to catch.  When he finally confronts Daniel, things don’t go as planned.  Daniel ends up captured and loses some of his powers.  Instead of killing Daniel, Ergent Seth, brings him back to the planet Alpar Nok which is completely destroyed.  Daniel hopes to escape and try to find his parent’s family leading to devastating circumstances.  This book is the first in more to come in the series of Daniel X. 

I found myself saying “Huh” a lot during my reading of “The Dangerous Days of Daniel X.”   It is definitely not your typical James Patterson novel probably because he now resorts to using co-authors which is a shame.  I found this read more for a younger audience with references to SpongeBob, Transformers, and “elevator thingy.”   With the whole shape shifter, alien hunter theme, it reminded me of the Cartoon Network series “Ben Ten” which my eight-year-old son watches.  I would definitely recommend this book to those under the age of 16, but it is not for us older folks. 

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