Tag Archives: Crime

The Boy Who Lied

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The Boy Who Lied by Kim Slater

Book of the Week: 9 September 2018

Cover illustration by Helen Crawford-White

Welcome back (or just welcome if you are new to School) to Book of the Week. I hope you all had a good summer. I’m looking forward to hearing about any good books you read over the six-week holiday. Let’s start with our first choice for the new academic year: The Boy Who Lied, which covers seven unforgettable days in the life of Ed Clayton whose brother Sam goes missing.

Ed is meant to be looking after his eight-year-old brother when they visit Bulwell Hall Park, but Ed is on top of the climbing frame when he sees Sam talking to someone by the swings. In that instant, Ed falls to the ground and is knocked unconscious. When he wakes up in hospital his memory is hazy and Sam has been reported missing. Ed feels it’s all his fault because he is the one who so often has to look after Sam when their mum is feeling sad and tired and unable to cope. Ed and Sam’s father is in prison and life has been tough since he went away. Fortunately, his mum’s best friend, Augustine, and her partner Charlie are there to offer support and the police and newspapers are doing their best to discover the truth. But will Sam ever be found and will the truth ever come out when Ed is someone who likes making things up?

This is Kim Slater’s fourth book and has her characteristic mix of warm family life, identifiable characters, flawed grown-ups and a mystery that needs to be solved. You can read more about her other books here and they are all available to borrow from the School Library.

I Have No Secrets

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I Have No Secrets by Penny Joelson

Book of the Week: 4 February 2018

Cover design by L. Horton

A crime story told from the unique perspective of fourteen-year-old Jemma who uses a wheelchair and has cerebral palsy. Jemma lives with her foster parents who also care for Finn, who has autism, and sparky Olivia who has emotional difficulties. Jemma is unable to speak, communicate or control her muscles but she is intelligent and observant and sees things that other people miss. She knows, for example, that the charming Dan, who is dating her carer Sarah, is not all he seems. He displays quite a different attitude when he is alone with Jemma, believing she is powerless. Jemma is desperate to let everyone know what Dan has done, but how can she protect her family when her options are limited?

This is not only a tense story but one that gives readers a rare insight into living with a disability. Jemma is a great character and there are some real lump-in-the-throat moments as well as some anxious ones.

World Book Day 1 March 2018

I Have No Secrets also happens to be one of the books on special offer for World Book Day on 1 March. This year is a little different from previous years insomuch as you will be able to swap your coupon (plus £1.50 payment) for one of five full-length books. These five books are aimed at secondary school readers and are by John Green, Frances Hardinge, Benjamin Zephaniah, Taran Matharu and Penny Joelson. Have a look here. Vouchers will be distributed to every student in School after half-term.

 

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One of Us is Lying

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One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Book of the Week: 1 October 2017

Five students at Bayview High School are given an after-school detention: studious Bronwyn who has never been given one before; Cooper, the school sports star; Addy, whose aim in life is to keep her boyfriend Jake happy; Nate who lives in the ‘wrong’ part of town and is suspected of being a drug-dealer; and Simon, the author of a poisonous gossip app about his fellow students. When there is a crash in the school car park, Mr Avery, the teacher in charge of the detention, goes to investigate and by the end of the detention session, one of the students has died.

The resulting who-done-it-and-why is told by each of the characters, revealing their personalities and the secrets they want to keep. Expect plenty of twists and turns and be very grateful that you don’t attend this school.

Some of the content makes this more suited to older readers. You can read an excerpt here and some content guidance here.

 

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928 Miles From Home

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928 Miles From Home by Kim Slater

Book of the Week: 18 June 2017

Callum loves films and spending time with his dad. He’s wondering about writing a screenplay for a competition at the local Expressions Community Centre, but worries that his life on an ordinary estate isn’t the stuff that movies are made of. Since his mum left home eleven years ago it has been tough for his dad to spend time with him because he is always travelling for his job. As a result, Callum is often lonely. He feels that his friendships in school are cooling off, and he isn’t comfortable about the fact his friends pick on new boy Sergei, who has recently arrived from Poland. Callum’s sympathy evaporates rapidly, however, when he is confronted with his dad’s new relationship with someone called Angie, who is going to move in with them along with her son, who happens to be Sergei.

Like Kim Slater’s first book, Smart, this is set in Nottingham and has a great sense of place. This is important, because where characters come from, and how that affects their lives, is a major theme in the story, although the plot also centres on the solving of a crime, again rather like Smart. Kim Slater conveys great understanding about young people who feel lonely and isolated from friends and family. She also delivers numerous shots of encouragement to anyone who thinks they are too ordinary to contribute much to society.

Liccle Bit

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Liccle Bit by Alex Wheatle

Book of the Week: 5 February 2017

Jerome, or Liccle Bit as he is nicknamed because of his lack of height, lives on the South Crongton estate with his hard-working Mum, Gran, sister Elaine and her baby son Lemar. It’s a tough neighbourhood, sometimes dominated by battles with the neighbouring North Crongton gang, but Jerome has his friends Jonah and McKay to hang out with, plus the attention of Venetia King, the hottest girl in school, who wants him to use his artistic talent to draw her portrait. He thinks his overcrowded home-life has its compensations until he is approached by chief gangster Manjaro, who also happens to be the father of his sister’s child. Elaine has tried to make sure Manjaro is out of her life but he wants contact with his baby son and is angling to get back in their lives by involving Jerome in running errands. When these errands stop seeming so harmless, Jerome is caught up in a world of serious crime and wonders how he can escape.

This is the first book in the Crongton series that feature the same characters. Alex Wheatle won the 2016 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize for his second one, Crongton Knights and has a third, Straight Outta Crongton, due out in early April. If told with the same humour, convincing characters and setting as Liccle Bit, it’s sure to be a success.

If you enjoy this, you may like a more serious read written for adults, Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman, which is available from the School Library. It has a similar setting and story.

 

Follow Me Back

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Follow Me Back by Nicci Cloke

Book of the Week: 1 January 2017

Happy New Year! The first book of 2017, in a very short school week, is a mystery about a missing girl called Lizzie Summersall.

Aidan arrived in Abbots Grey with his mum and stepfather Kevin to start a new life. In the three years since he arrived he has settled in to St Agnes’s, his new school, and made a friend called Scobie, a Doctor Who fan and computer nerd. Then one evening, just as he returns from football training, the police arrive to question him about the disappearance of his friend Lizzie. The police think she went to meet someone she met online. Aidan says he knows nothing about it and they were just friends who had a falling out. Is Aiden hiding something?

The story is mostly told in the present tense by Aiden, with a fair proportion of the plot told in the form of Lizzie and Aiden’s conversations on Facebook. Further on in the book, we see the events from the point of view of other characters as the story twists and turns.

If you enjoy mysteries such as 13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough, Running Girl by Simon Mason or The Yellow Room by Jess Vallance, then this is in a similar vein. You can read more about Follow Me Back on Nicci Cloke’s blog here where there is also a serial-style podcast featuring interviews with some of the characters.

Rebel Bully Geek Pariah

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Rebel Bully Geek Pariah by Erin Lange

Book of the Week: 1 May 2016

Rebel Bully Geek Pariah

The title refers to the four central characters. Sam, who is telling the story, is the pariah. We learn that her mother has been to prison numerous times, she has been fired from her part-time job, she has scars that make her self-conscious and she seems to fulfill her grandmother’s saying that ‘only children are lonely children’. To begin with it isn’t clear who the rebel, bully and geek are until Sam finds herself at an outdoor party in nearby woods where she is trying to rescue her mother’s violin from Andi, a girl who used to be popular but who has turned into a rebellious kleptomaniac. They are distracted from their battle over the violin by a couple of fighting boys who are arguing over a set of keys. These are brothers York and Boston who they vaguely know from school. When the police raid the party the four of them run to the nearest car, accidentally knock over a police officer, then discover that not only have they taken a police vehicle but that it is full of stolen drugs. The four are now on the run, don’t get on together and don’t know what to do.

This book with its quirky characters has a lot to offer in terms of plot twists and tense situations. The story has a cinematic feel and it’s no surprise to find that the author, Erin Lange, is also a journalist. Her website is here.

Monster

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Monster by C.J. Skuse

Book of the Week: 6 December 2015

Monster

The setting for ‘Monster’ is a remote boarding school that was once a stately home. Bathory is suitably gothic and creepy, rather like an un-magical Hogwarts. Nash, who is campaigning to become Head Girl, believes she has glimpsed the fabled Beast of Bathory stalking across the playing fields as the story begins. The existence, and possible whereabouts of this creature, become a huge source of tension as the story progresses. Nash and a small group of girls are forced to stay in Bathory over the Christmas holidays due to snowstorms bringing the country to a halt. Nash is also frantically worried about her family. Her brother, Seb, has gone missing in South America and her parents have flown out to look for him. As the weather worsens, the girls argue and get more anxious, as there are rumours of an escaped criminal in the grounds. Will it all end in tragedy or will the resourceful Nash survive everything life throws at her and save her fellow students from whatever is lurking in the woods?

This book as been called “Malory Towers meets I Know What You Did Last Summer” and contains some scenes of gory violence and strong language. Suitable for older readers.

 

The Door That Led to Where

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The Door That Led to Where by Sally Gardner

Book of the Week: 12 April 2015

door that led to where

AJ Flynn has just failed all but one of his GCSEs, and his future is looking far from rosy. So when he is offered a junior position at a London law firm he hopes his life is about to change – but he could never have imagined by how much.

Tidying up the archive one day, AJ finds an old key, mysteriously labelled with his name and date of birth – and he becomes determined to find the door that fits the key. And so begins an amazing journey to a very real and tangible past – 1830, to be precise – where the streets of modern Clerkenwell are replaced with cobbles and carts, and the law can be twisted to suit a villain’s means. Although life in 1830 is cheap, AJ and his friends quickly find that their own lives have much more value. They’ve gone from sad youth statistics to young men with purpose – and at the heart of everything lies a crime that only they can solve. But with enemies all around, can they unravel the mysteries of the past, before it unravels them?
(Source: Publisher’s blurb)
Sally Gardner writes in a variety of styles and this book is nothing like her award-winning ‘Maggot Moon’. If you like stories with a Dickensian feel, such as ‘Smith’ by Leon Garfield, this may be the book for you.

Night Runner

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Night Runner

by Tim Bowler

Book of the Week:18 January 2015

Nightrunner

Zinny feels the whole world is against him and now there’s a man in the street watching his window. Why is a man in such a flash coat hanging around in a down-at-heel part of town and what is his interest in Zinny’s house?

This story starts with a feeling of menace and tension and doesn’t let up until the end of what is a short, but fast-paced read. Zinny has plenty of problems: an abusive father, an overworked mother and being bullied at school, but the arrival of Flash Coat (as he calls the sinister gangster who watches his house) tops them all. The threats of violence from the gang are grittily convincing, as are Zinny’s efforts to protect his family and his efforts to escape. The book is not called ‘Night Runner’ for nothing; the scenes where Zinny races through the streets are edge-of-the-seat stuff.

If you like Tim Bowler’s ‘Blade’ series or just enjoy fast-moving thrillers, this book is for you.

The author’s website is here