Agent Six of Hearts is a sixteen year old enhanced human who works for a group called The Deck. Each card deck suit is in charge of a different aspect of the organization. The Hearts are in charge of missions against enemies of the group. Agent Six of Hearts is the most successful of any soldier, but if The Spades knew about Six being the product of an experiment, they would have him terminated. Luckily, Six's handler, King knows about him, but has kept his identity a secret from the other branches of The Deck. Six's most recent mission is to find The Lab where he was created and shut it down so that others like him can't be developed into an army.

The Lab is a futuristic, scifi adventure with lots of action but very little character development. We know that Six is a genetically engineered clone and that there are probably others like him, but we don't get much about who he really is inside for most of the story. The other characters are not developed at all, so we never really learn their motivations or reasoning. However, a reluctant middle grade reader would probably love this story and its outcome. Overall, The Lab is a good beginning to the Agent Six of Hearts series, but its success depends on exposure to a very limited audience. ( )

Agent Six of Hearts is a sixteen year old phenom and superagent for the Deck, who is out trying to defeat the evil Lab. However, his deepest secret is that he himself was a product of the Lab. Long on action, but short on character development. More appropriate for adolescents than adults. ( )

It was an amazing book. I got sucked into a world where a company not a government has total control of the continent. Six is an independent sixteen years-old boy that think he isn't part of the human race. As the story develops you see him becoming more and more human. The adventure in this story seems as if you are the character running for your life or doing all of the superhuman things that Six and his "twin" can accomplish. ( )

In a near-future world run by an evil corporation, the only justice comes from an organization called the Deck. Each agent in the deck belongs to a suit -- the Hearts and Diamonds are the operatives, the Clubs do the training, and the Spades monitor internal affairs. The hero is a 16-yr-old, Six of Hearts. (The highest ranking in each group is the King, and so forth, with the whole shebang led by the two Jokers). Six of Hearts is the best operative they have -- all the more impressive (and convenient for us) because he never kills anyone. But he's not really human (surprise) and the action is frenetic and confusing. Not a lot of character development, but this is the first of a series and may get better. Short book may appeal to reluctant readers and boys who like action.

( )

Not a long book, a ton of action, and yet... kinda boring and taking forever to read.

[edit] Finally finished. Explanations for many, many plot contrivances were weak and the writing chock-full of Tell [don't show]. Ultimately forgettable, but I'll probably work up a 30-second Back Pocket Booktalk for it anyway--as blah as I found it, I'm sure middle-school reluctant readers would appreciate the brisk action-movie plot. ( )