During my formative years of the 1980s—the years when I lived and breathed Ayn Rand and Rose Wilder Lane (a strange mix indeed)—the evil I learned to fear was the military-industrial complex. Flashforward a couple of decades, and the evil that threatens to end life on Earth as we know it is the military-pharmacological complex. The unlikely heroes in James Patterson's adolescent novel (marketed to adults), Saving the World, are the birdkids who themselves are in their tender and formative teen years.

The flock is led by Maximum, Max, for short. Max is a fourteen-year-old, hollow-boned, beautiful, super-intelligent (and sassy) girl, who has a thirteen-foot wingspan, a bad attitude, and a crush on a fourteen-year-old member of the flock named Fang. The youngest member is Angel, only six years old yet able to read and influence the minds of others—a lifesaving and deeply held secret amongst the flyers (and their talking dog, Total).

Max, with the assistance of her flock, was chosen to save the world from the very entity that created these mutants, a worldwide pharmacology company named Itex. This is the third in a trilogy of books, and with a short introduction in the second chapter, the reader is immediately brought up to date on the flock's creation and its travails against Itex.

In the prologue, we immediate learn that Itex is implementing two programs: the By-Half Plan to reduce the world's population by half, and the Re-Evolution Plan meant to repopulate Earth with mutant humans who have no flaws and bear strange superpowers. Max and her small group of mutants—it turns out—were experiments made by Itex as it struggled to create mutant-humans who were superior in every way. But Itex didn't anticipate having an insider that would undermine its own plan to “save the world.” The insider revealed critical clues to Max, who is the last hope to save the world. Max felt compelled to fulfill this mission at all costs, even when it meant splitting up her precious flock and leaving Fang behind in America after a bitter fight and flying to Europe to find the head of Itex.

This book has no clear philosophical goal: it meanders from one high-minded ideal to another without any bearing. For example, both Itex and the flock have a similar belief system—they both believe there are too many people in this world and because of overpopulation and downright stupidity, these people are destroying the world through unchecked pollution and poverty. Itex's plans to save the world are inhumane and gross. So what of the flock's plan to destroy Itex and address the Earth's ills? Turns out Fang, not relying on Max's supposed ability to single-handedly save the world, finds another resource.

Patterson makes no anti-government harangue in this book, I wouldn't even dare to suggest it is libertarian, but there are some very telling story lines that make this book a worthy read. The first is the total omission of government coming to save the day. This book is about kid-power. Fang keeps a blog telling the world's children about the flock's exploits and then turns to those kids for help in saving the world. The kids all over the world are downright irritated with the adults' inability to set things straight, and in the end, it's the kids around the world that give Max the extra oomph she needs in her task.

Itex does not appear to be in league with any particular government. It appears to be powerful all over the world without much help from any governmental entity. It manages to be evil all on its own. So why do I describe it as a military-pharmacological complex? Because Itex has no moral or ethical problems with selling the human mutants to governments as weapons. When Itex is about to display its greatest strides yet in re-evolution, it presents its mutant-wonders to a blanket of gray governmental faces. Patterson doesn't delve into this relationship with governments at all; perhaps he did so in the first two books. Patterson does just enough in this book for a kids' book to reveal that the government is not there to save you, and may in fact end up destroying you.

Patterson writes mystery books for adults. This book has no mystery, and it is written for kids. Be prepared for endless kid-isms, over and over and over again (if you don't get it, that means there is a lot of repetition). The book contains great gaps in simple common sense, the sort of gaps that are impossible for adults to get past when they read a book. For example, the prologue introduces Itex's implementation of its plans to begin at 7:00 a.m. the next morning. By the next chapter, I expected to see some major changes in New York City, Chicago, Dallas, and maybe around the world given the title of the book. Indeed, where is this plan taking place, as days and weeks go by, and Max has yet to save the world and we have yet to see any by-halfing or re-evolutionizing going on anywhere outside of an Itex lab?

When robotic “flyboys,” who look like wolves and bear heavy artillery, swarm into a large California city, we all know they should have been picked up by radar and taken out long before they reach a lonely street populated only by three bird-kids and some gang members. By the time the police arrive in their very slow cruisers, the battle is done and robotic bits and pieces, not to mention wolf-parts have splattered all over the ground. Are you telling me that our orange-alert anti-terrorism-minded administration hasn't jumped in to try to save the day? And on that note, is it really a good idea to idealize the gang members whose own heavier artillery turn out to be the heroes in that particular battle?

All that aside, Patterson's portrayal of a powerful heroine (and countless kids around the globe) taking on the evil pharmacological empire makes this a fun, easy read for freedom-loving adults.