Secret Persuader ¦ Bomb Alert

These books feature the adventures of Ann Burnside, a teenager from a harmoniously broken home, who spends her summers commuting with her kid brother on a cruise liner between parents on either side of the Atlantic. This would be a cushy number, were it not for the fact that she is bedevilled by a mad scientist in the first book and terrorists 'with foreign accents' in the second. However, Ann spots the dangers before the dull but worthy crew and, assisted by doughty male clums, saves the day for the cruiseline and its wealthy clientele.

The flavour of this genre of serial writing is at its fullest in the second story, a tale in which stalwart passengers risk death in order to assist a kidnapped rock group, the immortal words, 'those blighters mean business', are uttered under gunfire, and a cadre of armed terrorists is overcome by a teenager with a fire extinguisher and an invalid with a crutch. A few people die violently, but they are mainly foreigners, and don't leave any mess. In short, this is the simplistic world of Ms Blyton and Capt. Johns, tarted up in the meretricious trappings of 1980s prolefeed: ostentatious prosperity, a little bland romance, and dollops of mild mayhem. Targeted at the teen market, and strictly for those who won't read anything else.