The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp -- Rick Yancey

The book begins:

I never thought I would save the world--or die saving it.  I never believed in angels or miracles either, and I sure didn't think of myself as a hero.  Nobody would have, including you, if you had known me before I took the world's most powerful weapon and let it fall into the hands of a lunatic.  Maybe after you hear my story you won't think I'm much of a hero anyway, since most of my heroics (if you want to call them that) resulted from my being a screwup.  A lot of people died because of me--including me--but I guess I'm getting ahead of myself and I'd better start from the beginning.

Let's start with the biggie:  The weapon he's referring to is Excalibur.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp has helicopter rides, stolen sports cars, sword fights, modern day knights, prophetic dreams, at least two secret and powerful world-wide organizations, a smidgen of romance and lots and lots of beheadings.  The chapters are short and the action is almost non-stop -- if the length of the book doesn't deter them, this will be a good pick for reluctant readers.

Alfred Kropp himself is a very likable and engaging narrator.  He reminded me a bit of Max from the Philbrick books -- a big guy, not overly bright, but with a good heart. I didn't grow all that attached to him, though, and I certainly didn't get attached to anyone else in the book. 

While it was very definitely a page-turner, and a fun one at that (I was always fully entertained while actually reading) I didn't feel any burning compulsion to find the time to finish it off immediately.  We went away this weekend, and even though I was three-quarters of the way through, I didn't bring it with me.  That's major.  It just didn't inspire any sort of passion in me.  I'll recommend it to certain kids -- fans of Alex Rider, Darren Shan and maybe Eoin Colfer -- but it isn't one that I'm doing cartwheels about.