Meet Harry Pickles, the fastest boy in the world (well, at least in school). big brother to Daniel (who runs like a girl but is, in his own twerpy way, a star), and the firstborn son of Mo and Pa, the best-looking parents in their Notting Hill elementary school parking lot. Harry's life, like any other nine-year-old's, is a colorful, frenetic, and fun blur of lunch boxes, vocabulary tests, and keeping up with his pals Piggy and I'erry--not to mention keeping an eye on his kid brother Daniel. Mo, a successful, well-known journalist, and Pa, a surgeon, have built a wonderful world for Harry and Daniel to grow up in, but when a school outing results in Daniel's vanishing, the complicated adult world of police investigations and interviews, searches of the countryside, recriminations, and ultimate responsibilitiy come crashing in on a very confused Harry. Told with an utterly compelling and exuberant sense of truth in a barrowing situation. "Hide & Seek is a fresh debut of remarkable compassion, tense mystery, disarming humor, and emotional clarity. Clare Sambrooke's exceptional debut novel should find its palce alongside other recent achievements in literary fiction such as "The Lovely Bones. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and "The Deep End of the Ocean.