“Faces Behind the Masks: So You Want to be a Superhero?” by Thomas J. Brodeur

FACES BEHIND THE MASKS: SO YOU WANT TO BE A SUPERHERO?

Thomas J. Brodeur
Thomas J. Brodeur (2017)
ISBN 9781522063735
Reviewed by Emily Sutton (age 16) for Reader Views (1/18)

“Faces Behind the Masks: So You Want to be a Superhero?” by Thomas J. Brodeur is an exciting story with a different take on superheroes.  It is funny, creative and full of action from the very first page!

Travis Warnofski is a twelve-year-old boy with a wild imagination and non-stop energy. With his mother in the hospital, Travis is sent to stay with his Uncle Alex for a while.  Uncle Alex is old and cranky and doesn’t really know how to handle a kid, especially one that is so mischievous like Travis, so the two bump heads and never really hit it off. When Travis suspects that his uncle might be a superhero, he makes plans to blackmail him and expose his secret identity.  When Travis ends up in his uncle’s underground office one day and he finds out what he really does for a living, Travis can’t believe it.

I can’t really say more about the story without giving away the plot, but I can say that as a big fan of sci-fi and fantasy, “Faces Behind the Masks” is such a different story from anything I have ever read before, and I really liked it!  The story is really well written and all the different characters held my interest through the entire book.  I thought Travis and Uncle Alex were a lot alike, both stubborn and hasty to do things before thinking.  Their characters were complicated – they seemed like the “bad guys” when they interacted with each other, yet were the “good guys” when battling the real villains of the story.  This made my feelings for them jump from like to dislike and from being annoyed with them to rooting for them on their mission.

Though the story revolves around superheroes and a twelve-year-old boy, I think adults will enjoy this story as well as, or maybe even more than teens because it does have a lot of humor in it that would probably be missed by the younger age group.   Still, both teens and adults interested in the superhero genre will definitely love “Faces Behind the Masks: So You Want to be a Superhero?” by Thomas J. Brodeur.  It’s action-packed and full of page-turning excitement!