Tim Bowler

Blade is running from his past but he gives few clues throughout the book to what that past entails. Blade lives in an unnamed British city, he is homeless, and he breaks into houses and apartments just to sleep, shower, eat, and read books, which helps to humanize him. The writing style is reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange with short, choppy sentences, an unusual slang, and the first person narration is directed at someone he calls “Big Eyes.” The short sentences contribute to the excitement and tension that build throughout the book beginning with when he is seven years old and the “porkers” are questioning him about his role in a traffic incident. Time leaps ahead to when Blade is fourteen and the main action takes place. First he is jumped by a vicious girl gang, and then a Good Samaritan rescues him. But then she is murdered by some thugs who Blade thinks he recognizes from his past, but is she really dead? He realizes he has to leave the city and find a new place to live to escape these people from his past, and winds up allowing a teen mother and her daughter to tag alone. This brutal, violent book is a page turner sure to appeal to reluctant readers, but it leaves more questions than it answers which will hopefully be addressed in the planned six additional sequels.… (más)

If this book had been longer, I would have DNFed it. And it was going to get two stars until it had an inconclusive and disappointing ending. The first page was intriguing but it went down hill fast. The narrator speaks directly to the reader but makes the reader a character that could potentially interact with the world. I'm all for breaking the fourth wall but not the reality of the book. If I'm the reader, I can't turn on lights. Also, the style was stream-of-consciousness, running narrative of every action and thought and was so tedious. There was a ton of weird British street urchin slang but then when calling the police, the narrator dialed 9-1-1 (The UK emergency line is 9-9-9.) The emotional barometer was very off: a big twist was mentioned casually but then obsessed over and then not true. I couldn't figure out what to feel. Overall, confusing and boring. I regret sticking with this book.… (más)

A young girl and her parents struggle with her grandfather's swiftly declining health as they all travel back to the rural area where he was born. Jess's grandfather is a painter, and his efforts to finish his last painting seem to be bound to both his own life and the mysterious boy who appears to Jess in the river near their vacation home.
The idea behind this one is really good, and potentially could be a great way to open up a conversation with kids about how to process the death of a loved one. But the writing wasn't great, and the character of Jess seemed a little flat, so the whole thing fell a bit short for me.… (más)