Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment is the first book in the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson. The book was released in the US on April 11, 2005 and in the UK on July 4, 2005. The book is set in the near future and centers on the flock, a group of human-avian hybrids (98% human, 2% bird) on the run from the scientists who created them. It focuses on Maximum Ride (Max), the leader of the flock, and the first-person narrator and protagonist of the story.