He can't seem to stay out of trouble - using his fists to defend weaker classmates from bullies. But on Phoenix Island, the choice will be made for him.Ī champion boxer with a sharp hook and a short temper, 16-year-old Carl Freeman has been shuffled from foster home to foster home. Phoenix Island is ground zero for the future of combat intelligence.The judge told Carl that one day he'd have to decide exactly what kind of person he would become. For this is no ordinary government project. Gifts from the fatherly Old Man, who wants to transform Carl into something he’s not sure he wants to become. But he makes enemies, too, and after a few rough scrapes, he earns himself the nickname “Hollywood” as well as a string of punishments, including a brutal night in the “sweatbox.” But that’s nothing compared to what awaits him in the “Chop Shop”-a secret government lab where Carl is given something he never dreamed of.Ī new life…A new body. Sentenced to stay until his eighteenth birthday, Carl plans to play by the rules, so he makes friends with his wisecracking bunkmate, Ross, and a mysterious gray-eyed girl named Octavia. Located somewhere far off the coast of the United States-and immune to its laws-the island is a grueling Spartan-style boot camp run by sadistic drill sergeants who show no mercy to their young, orphan trainees. His latest incident sends his opponent to the emergency room, and now the court is sending Carl to the worst place on earth: Phoenix Island.Ĭlassified as a “terminal facility,” it’s the end of the line for delinquents who have no home, no family, and no future. He can’t seem to stay out of trouble-using his fists to defend weaker classmates from bullies. But on Phoenix Island, the choice will be made for him.Ī champion boxer with a sharp hook and a short temper, sixteen-year-old Carl Freeman has been shuffled from foster home to foster home. The judge told Carl that one day he’d have to decide exactly what kind of person he would become. For fans of The Bourne Identity, Alex Rider, and Melissa Marr. John Dixon’s critically acclaimed Phoenix Island reads like “ Lord of the Flies meets Wolverine and Cool Hand Luke” (F. WINNER OF THE BRAM STOKER AWARD FOR SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Phoenix island by john dixon