59. Legacy by Thomas E Sniegoski

Legacy by Thomas E Sniegoski
Published January 2012 Random House

From the publisher:
What if you found out your deadbeat father is a superhero? Would you leave your small-town life to take up the mantle of a father you never knew? For 18-year-old Lucas, the choice is an easy one: he's not going to leave behind his mother and his comfortable, if dead-end, life as a high school dropout and auto mechanic for a father who's never been around. But his father--known officially as billionaire Clayton Hartwell, and secretly as the vigilante superhero the Raptor--tells Lucas that as he is dying, evil is growing, and the world needs Lucas to become the new Raptor. As Lucas spends time with his father observing his "heroic" behavior up close, he is left wondering about the line between good and evil, and if good is only a matter of perspective.

This book took me by surprise.  I didn't think I would like a book about an 18 year old by who is destined to be a superhero, after all I am not a 14 year old comic book obsessed boy.  That is a huge generalisation, I will admit, and also absolutely wrong.  This (much older than 14) year old woman really enjoyed this book.



Lucas is a High School drop out, living in a small town with his mother in a trailer park.  He works as a mechanic, and spends too much time engaged in under-aged drinking.  Until the day he is stabbed in the stomach during a fight, and finds himself immediately healed.  The the mysterious billionaire turns up and tells his he is his father...not only  that he is also the superhero Raptor.  Clayton Hartwell aka Raptor wants Lucas to come with him tot he city, as he is too old and sick to keep fighting crime, and Lucas has inherited (been given) the power he needs to take over.
Lucas has no reason to leave his life to follow this stranger...until something happens that means he has no choice.

From here we follow Lucas on his path to Superhero, but we also start to find out more about Raptor.  This is where the book gets interesting because it brings up all sorts of questions.  Are you still a hero if you start killing the bad guys?  Doesn't that make you a killer too?

Who will like this book: Boys age 14+
Read it if you like: Batman/Spiderman/X-men