Tag Archives: Thriller

Book of the Week (Lockdown edition)

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Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O’Brien

Book of the Week: 10 May 2020

My 1981 copy. Cover illustration by Lucinda Cowell

On a farm in a hidden green valley, a sixteen year old girl is the only survivor of a nuclear holocaust. Her family, and Mr and Mrs Klein the local store owners, set off to see if the Amish families who lived to the south had survived the devastation. They never returned. Ann has chickens and a couple of cows and plenty of supplies from Mr and Mrs Klein’s store. She is used to farming and cooking and manages to survive in the valley that is fed by a brook, where the water has somehow avoided being radioactive. She has almost managed to come to terms with the fact that she will spend her life alone and will never speak to another human being. Then, one day, she sees a plume of smoke in the distance and before long she discovers the source:

“It is a man, one man alone… he is dressed, entirely covered, in a sort of a greenish plastic-looking suit. It even covers his head, and there is a glass mask for his eyes… The reason he is coming so slowly is that he is pulling a wagon, a thing about the size of a big trunk, mounted on two bicycle wheels… He stopped to rest every few minutes. He still has about a mile to go to reach the top. I have to decide what to do.”

Is this man going to be friend or foe?

There is a constant undercurrent of tension in Ann’s simply told story. Amidst the fascinating practical details of survival, is an absorbing cat and mouse tale of isolation and the burdens and choices involved in staying alive under dreadful circumstances.

If you have read and enjoyed any of the following, this is a must-read:

Alone by David Brazier

Boy X by Dan Smith

The Explorer by Katherine Rundell

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

D.O.G.S.

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D.O.G.S. by M.A. Bennett

Book of the Week: 8 September 2019

Cover design by Alexandra Allden

I nearly didn’t pick this because the central character, Greer, doesn’t like the work of our most famous Old Edwardian. However, S.T.A.G.S. won the Warwickshire Book Award back in March and this sequel is just as gripping.

We are back in the priviledged environment of St Aidan the Great School just where S.T.A.G.S. left off, partly because Greer strongly disapproves of sequels that start three years later than the original. She, Nel and Shafeen are now starting their final year at school and although Greer is still brooding over the death of Henry de Warlencourt, she is looking forward to a new school year. As part of her A-level Drama course she has to stage a play written before 1660 and has already ruled out Shakespeare. One evening, a sheaf of yellowing pages is pushed under the door of her room; these appear to be the beginnings of a play called The Isle of Dogs by Ben Jonson. When she takes the papers to her Drama teacher, Abbott Ridley, he is stunned. The play, written in 1597, was performed but then suppressed, meaning all copies were burned and the theatres closed. What could it have contained to make it so dangerous? When the next set of pages appear under Greer’s door, the Abbott suggests she stage the play for her A-level course. But who is feeding her pages, are they genuine and who is sending her cryptic messages about the recent past on Instagram?

Expect plenty of mystery and tension in a plot that skilfully mixes an ancient puzzle, and fascinating details about Elizabethan theatre and politics, with the elements that made S.T.A.G.S. such an enjoyable thriller.

White Rabbit, Red Wolf

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White Rabbit, Red Wolf by Tom Pollock

Book of the Week: 17 June 2018

Illustration by Peter Strain

The first chapter sees Pete Blankman crouching in a corner of the larder having eaten practically everything in the kitchen. He has run out of food, so has tried the contents of the salt cellar, reducing it to shards of porcelain. Pete is a mathematical prodigy who suffers extreme and incapacitating anxiety attacks. His mother, in a brisk, no-nonsense way, tries to help him cope but the person he truly feels connected to is his twin sister Bel, who he regularly calls his ‘axiom’. The salt cellar incident has been triggered by the fact that Pete is expected to attend an award ceremony at the Natural History Museum, where his mother, Dr Blankman, will be honoured for her research. As he feared, the occasion sets off one of Pete’s anxiety attacks and he leaves the ceremony and runs through the corridors of the museum with his mother in pursuit. Then he hears her call for help and turns back to find she has been stabbed. Before he has a chance to do anything, his mother’s colleagues have called an ambulance and whisked him away to a residential street in Hackney that turns out to be a cover for a secret service location. He learns that his mother was part of the organisation and that his sister is missing and may have had something to do with the attack.

This is a fast-moving thriller where it is hard to know who to trust. The time-frame flips from the present to several years ago at regular intervals and Pete frequently thinks about situations in mathematical terms. The strong language and violence make it more suited to older readers who enjoy a story with plenty of twists and turns.

Orphan Monster Spy

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Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen

Book of the Week: 6 May 2018

Cover border pattern by Shutterstock/Gorbash Vavara. Cover background pattern by Shutterstock/Picksell

How Sarah is orphaned is described on page one and by chapter six she is ready to become a spy. But when, if ever, does she become a monster?

This clever thriller has tense scenes, plenty of action, a strong central character and also looks at the extent to which we become monsters when we try to fight them.

Sarah is a blond, blue-eyed Jewish girl whose mother is killed when they are trying to escape the Nazis. Whilst trying to reach Switzerland and safety, she encounters a British spy posing as a German who persuades her to infiltrate a private school attended by daughters of high-ranking supporters of the Nazi party. He believes the father of one of the girls is planning something that will murder thousands of people and he wants Sarah to find evidence. Her blond good looks mean she should not stand out from the other girls, but will she be accepted and can she overcome her hatred and history of persecution to gain access to the home of Elsa Schafer, the so-called Ice Queen?

 

Lie Kill Walk Away

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Lie Kill Walk Away by Matt Dickinson

Book of the Week: 26 February 2017

Matt Dickinson is the master of the short, sharp chapter that leaves the reader in suspense. Lie Kill Walk Away is told by alternating narrators, Becca and Joe, interspersed with audio transcript by a government bioweapons inspector.

Becca’s father is the bioweapons inspector and her mother is a virologist whose mental instability has resulted in her deserting her home and family. Joe is also motherless. His mother died of cancer, leaving him with just his dad and his beloved dog Shammy. Joe, unlike the high-achieving Becca, is in trouble with the law for his habit of creating illicit graffiti. When he is made to scrub his tag from a wall near a military hospital, and Becca is visiting her father, who is being treated there after an alleged suicide attempt, the two come in to contact and quickly get caught up in a frightening plot involving bioweapons, cults, terrorists and the government.

There is lots of fast-paced action, including some hair-raising chase sequences involving cars and motorbikes.

There is even an alternative ending to the book here. Just don’t be tempted to peep until you’ve read the whole book!

Lifers

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Lifers by M.A. Griffin

Book of the Week: 9 October 2016

lifers

It is 2 a.m. and Preston is wandering down an ink-black street in Manchester looking for his friend Alice. She has recently disappeared and he is determined to find her. What he finds instead is a sinister scientific institute where they think they have discovered the answer to prison over-population. Something called the Kepler valve means that offenders can be ‘stored’ in a very small space. Those behind the scheme don’t seem to care what the conditions are like, or that those who are imprisoned are teenagers. What about Alice? Has she disappeared into this dreadful place? She has done nothing wrong. Preston means to get answers even if it means braving this nightmarish prison.

If you are a fan of The Maze Runner series, you may enjoy this.

M.A. Griffin has previously written Poison Boy under the name Fletcher Moss. Read an excerpt from Lifers on the publisher, Chicken House’s website and an interview with the author here.

Liquidator

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Liquidator by Andy Mulligan

Book of the Week: 13 December 2015

Liquidator

The final Book of the Week before the Christmas holidays unfortunately doesn’t have a Christmassy theme but it is a fun read (I’ve tried to help by giving it a Christmas backdrop).Perhaps it would have been better to swap last week’s book, ‘Monster’ which was set at Christmas, with this one.

Here is the book’s blurb: “LIQUIDATOR! The brand-new, delicious and wildly popular energy drink. ‘For those who wanna win!’ The company that makes it is set to earn a fortune, with its global launch climaxing at an international rock concert that will SHAKE the planet. The only problem?An innocent child is dying. Meet Vicky and her class-mates – their work experience is about to spin totally out of control as they uncover a secret that could change the world. And put them all in mortal danger …From the award-winning author of TRASH comes an action-packed thriller full of danger, hilarity and – above all – friendship.”

Andy Mulligan is the author of several successful books for young people. He wrote the darkly funny ‘Ribblestrop’ series and his book ‘Trash’ is being made into a film. You can watch the trailer and find out more about the author here.

 

 Image: Christmas background from 123f.com

13 Hours

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13 Hours by Narinder Dhami

Book of the Week: 11 October 2015

13 Hours

Anni has not long started secondary school but has to rush home every day to the crumbling old house she shares with her mum Jamila, because her mother is an invalid who gets anxious if she is a minute late. Anni’s dad died when she was young, leaving the two of them struggling to pay the bills and cope with her mother’s disability and agoraphobia. One evening after school, she finds Jamila in a worried state because her persistent fear of intruders makes her think someone has broken in to their house; only this time it’s real. Four people in balaclavas take Anni and Jamila hostage and Anni thinks it is something to do with a visit to their town the next day from the Prime Minister. What are they planning and how can she find out and stop them?

This is not only a tense page-turner but an insight into the life of a young carer who is clever and resourceful but who doesn’t realise just how tough her life is.

One of Narinder Dhami’s other books: Bang, Bang, You’re Dead!, has been borrowed many times from the School Library, perhaps this one will follow suit.

Echo Boy

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Echo Boy by Matt Haig

Book of the Week: 28 June 2015

Echo Boy

Many books tell a story using two different characters as narrators but how many of them describe the action from the point of view of a robot? The Echo boy of the title is called Daniel, an Enhanced Computerised Humanoid Organism. He is employed by Alex Castle, the hugely rich and powerful owner of Castle Industries, a kind of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates character, who takes in his niece Audrey after the death of her parents. Audrey has a deep fear of Echos, with good reason because her parents were murdered by a rogue humanoid called Alissa who worked for her family. Her father had been a well-known campaigner against society’s over-reliance on technology and artificial intelligence. He encouraged Audrey to read old books and wanted her to be taught by humans rather than androids. This was no easy task because the future where the book is set is one devastated by climate change and shortages. Technology seems to be the only tool that will provide a comfortable life. Following her parents’ deaths Audrey goes to live with her uncle, his brattish son Iago and a house-full of Echoes, but she never feels at ease. Is Uncle Alex as well-meaning as he appears and why does she feel there is something strange and compelling about one of the Echoes?

Echo Boy is a thoughtful look at what it means to be human as well as being a gripping science fiction thriller.

The Dark Inside

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The Dark Inside by Rupert Wallis

Book of the Week: 31 May 2015

Dark Inside

James has been left with his violent stepfather after the death of his mother. He escapes from the misery of home by spending time in an abandoned house and it’s here that he meets Webster, an ex-soldier on the run from some travellers who want to do him harm. The travellers, a thug called Billy and his witch-like mother, believe that Webster is something more than a man. As Webster himself says, ‘Not everything in this world is what it seems. Not gold. Or men. Or even boys, come to that.’ James and Webster form a bond and together they try to avoid the clutches of the wily Billy and his creepy mother.

This is a tense thriller filled with menace, unsettling characters and supernatural elements. James’s life of constant threat is reminiscent of Zinny’s in Night Runner by Tim Bowler but reviewers have compared the book to Skellig by David Almond, due to the enigmatic character of Webster and his multi-layered relationship with James.

The author answers questions about his book here without giving too much away.