The battle continues as five ordinary kids must journey back into the heart of an epic conflict.

Five months into World War III, Ellie and her four remaining friends have barely escaped the Australian town of Wirrawee with their lives and their sanity intact.
But as the next step becomes clear, they realize they must once again sacrifice their hard-won comfort and safety. A group of soldiers has recruited the kids to guide the way to the Wirrawee air base.
What could possibly motivate Ellie and her friends to return? This risky sabotage mission may be their only hope of rescuing their families, too.

Amazon.com Review

There are only five of them left now. Ellie and her four friends, Lee, Homer, Kevin, and Fi, have reluctantly returned to New Zealand from Australia to lead more guerrilla attacks on the enemy (who invaded their country in the previous book, Tomorrow, When the War Began ). The group has staged raids on their captive hometown Wirrawee from the wilderness sanctuary they call Hell, blowing up and burning enemy headquarters and bridges and supply depots, and killing with their bare hands when they must. By the end of the two sequels, The Dead of Night and A Killing Frost , they are strong and resourceful, but tired and soul-sick with the pervasive violence. Two of them have been killed, and one has killed himself in despair. When they were rescued and airlifted to New Zealand, they thought the nightmare was over. But now they have been sent back to Wirrawee to guide a party of adult raiders on a planned sabotage of a strategic airfield. Something goes wrong; the adults never come back from the raid, and Ellie and her friends are again left on their own to do what they can--and must--to survive.

Like John Marsden's other books, this story is immersed in darkness and dread. It's packed with almost unbearable suspense and breathtaking action, as the personalities and relationships of these decent country kids are eroded by the imperative for violence. Marsden fans will elbow each other aside for a copy of this one, and will look forward to the three new installments on the way. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up-The fourth volume of Marsden's saga of teenage survival and defense of their homeland during war continues the tale at its customary breakneck pace. In the previous books, Ellie and her continually dwindling troop of friends arrived home from a week's camping in the bush to discover that their small town-and, seemingly, all of Australia-has been overtaken by an unnamed enemy army. This latest volume takes up the tale as Ellie and her four remaining buddies leave the safety of New Zealand to return to their old campsite, planning to infiltrate the enemy-held town of Wirrawee under the protection of New Zealand soldiers. The soldiers soon disappear, however, leaving the teens once again on their own. In this middle book of the tale-which runs to seven titles in Australia-the teens learn the fates of their families and manage to survive without further losses. There are hair-raising adventures aplenty, including a break-in at the general store that goes awry, as well as Ellie's unintentional mortal dispatch of an enemy officer. As with previous titles, the ending leaves readers hanging in wait for the succeeding books. The adventures here are finely wrought and enough new background detail is supplied to keep loyal followers of the series engaged in the characters' development. However, this isn't a story to approach midstream. It needs to be read from the beginning, and teens will want to continue once they have done that, for Marsden's style is as surefooted as his independent band of teens.
Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
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