Tag Archives: Riots

Concentr8

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Concentr8 by William Sutcliffe

Book of the Week: 4 September 2016

concentr8

Welcome to the start of a brand new academic year! I’m looking forward to hearing what you have read over the summer holidays. Here is our first book of the week.

Concentr8 is a mix of thriller and satire set in a version of London very like our own, featuring a strangely familiar mayor in the person of Hugo Nelson – a man with a shock of ‘Hollywood blonde’ hair and a love of publicity.

The story is told over the course of six days by various characters starting with Troy, a teenager involved in riots rather like those in London in 2011. The riots are thought to be a result of young people being taken off a Ritalin-like drug called Concentr8 that is meant to control ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) a condition that the government of the day believes is running at record levels. Troy has a charismatic friend called Blaze who always goes one step further than anyone else and who decides that the chaos created by the riots would be a good opportunity to kidnap a government official and hold him hostage.

Characters caught up in the drama relate this increasingly tense turn of events. As well as Troy and Blaze there is Karen, Blaze’s girlfriend; Femi, his reluctant follower; Lee, who is not the sharpest knife in the box; as well as the hostage, the mayor, a negotiator and a journalist.

The characters are hard to like but convincingly portrayed and, whilst the reader might not warm to the group of disaffected teenagers, the author paints a compelling picture of the part that society has played in creating their situation.

Gritty language and mature content may make this more suited to older readers.

If you want to read more stories about the breakdown of society and young people fending for themselves, you could try the adult books Lord of the Flies by William Golding or A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes. Another, slightly gentler story of riots in London is told in I Predict a Riot by Catherine Brunton.

William Sutcliffe has written a similarly powerful book called The Wall which is in stock in the Library and which you can read about here 

All the books mentioned above are available in the School Library.

I Predict a Riot

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I Predict a Riot
by Catherine Brunton
Book of the Week: 11 January 2015

I predict a riot

Coronation Road in London is a mix of peoples, types and different cultures. The central character, Maggie, is someone who likes to watch what’s going on through the lens of her camera but as she is filming in a local children’s playground one day she witnesses an incidence of gang violence which changes the course of her life.

Maggie is the daughter of an absent father and is finding it increasingly difficult to relate to her busy mum who is an MP. As a result of the gang encounter she makes friends with Tokes, a boy living with his mum in a cramped bedsit, who is trying to avoid the pervasive gang culture of the area. Will their relationship survive the threats and violence they encounter in a troubled neighbourhood or is their situation doomed?

This is a story of tension rather than action, although the scenes of rioting in the streets are fast-moving and realistic. The central characters are all well-drawn and convincing, as is the inner-city setting.

If you enjoyed Salvage by Keren David or Saving Silence by Gina Blaxill, you may like this too.

The author’s website is here