The Bunker Diary
by Kevin Brooks
A rather disturbing story with a none-too-happy ending. A homeless teenager busking in London is chloroformed and bundled into a van by a man pretending to be blind. On waking, he finds himself in a damp basement of some sort with six bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a lift. We as the reader are left realising at the same time as him what has happened and what is happening - and very probably what will happen to him. Over the course of the next couple of days, five other people are abandoned in the bunker, and it is the start of psychological games by their abductor to see who will last the longest - if any. Have something happy to hand to read when you've finished this!
Waiting for Gonzo
by Dave Cousins
Marcus Osbourne (Oz) has moved to a new town, a new house, a new school. On his first day he manages to do the worst thing possible - draw a moustache on a photo of 'Psycho Skinner' (Isobel, daughter of local pub owner and also local crook), thus setting off a cycle of events which he hadn't bargained for. Add to this a surprise event within his family (referenced in the title as 'Gonzo') courtesy of Oz's sister, Meg, and we have one rollercoaster of misunderstandings, upsets, friendships broken then repaired, and family dramas. But with enough humour added to make it a comedy drama.
Rated teen for moderate language and teen pregnancy issue.
Colin Fischer
by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz
Colin has Asperger's and as such doesn't have many friends in school as they see him as some sort of freak to taunt. Because of his inability to detect emotion in other people's faces, he carries around a cheat sheet with drawings of faces with different expressions with the emotion written underneath. However, Colin has a great aptitude for maths and deduction of facts. When a gun goes off in the school cafeteria, he immediately becomes like one of his ultimate superheroes, Sherlock Holmes, and processes the evidence and facts to deduce who the real culprit is.
A great story of acceptance, family and friendship. If you like this, you may also like Wonder by R.J. Palacio and The Case of the Deadly Desperados by Caroline Lawrence.
Struck by Lightning
by Chris Colfer
A very funny story about Carson Phillips, a student at Clover High School, who is desperate to become a journalist, and needs to get some literary work together from the other students as part of his application to his favoured university, Northwestern. Unfortunately, all the other students hate him, so he has to resort to blackmail to get any work out of them. Lots of bad language.
Chris Colfer began his career as an actor, starring as teen Kurt Hummel in the hit series Glee.
Hostage Three
by Nick Lake
Amy is 17, fast approaching her 18th birthday, is a rich kid in a private school, has just finished her exams at school, but immediately fails them (she smokes a cigarette during her final exam). She lost her mother a while back, her dad has since remarried but spends all his time at work, and Amy doesn't get on with her stepmother. When her dad announces they are going on a round-the-world yachting trip, Amy doesn't really want to go. But dad hires a captain, a cook and a third staff member and off they go. The captain prepares the route taking care to avoid the Somali coast, as pirates have been known to linger there to board ships, take hostages, then demand ransom money from the rich yacht owners. Unfortunately, this does then happen. During the terror of the events which unfold, Amy starts to fall in love with Farouz, one of the pirates. How will things fare for the pair? Will Amy and her family survive the hostage situation? Will the ransom get paid? An original story about love and family.
Dash And Lily's Book Of Dares
by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
What a great teen novel! (definitely teen - swear words here and there). Lily leaves a red moleskine notebook on a bookshelf in the town's main bookshop. In it is a dare for anyone who reads it. Dash finds the book and decides to follow it up with his own dare in return. So begins a relationship of words, secret messages and dares between two people who have never met each other. The temptation to meet is strong, but will their own versions of each other match up to the real thing?
A must-read for fans of John Green! Also try Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher, and Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson.
The Last Minute
by Eleanor Updale
The story starts 11 minutes after an explosion in an English town, and the next 59 chapters countdown the final 59 seconds before that explosion. It details the last movements of many inhabitants of the town. Several of these characters draw your suspicions, but it's only at the end that you find out if your suspicions may have been correct.
As soon as I started to read it, I thought of Mortal Chaos, how one event sparks off another until it creates a catastrophe. But in this book, you are ticking off a second in all the people's lives. That's a lot of movements of a lot of people, and you need a constant reminder of who all these people are. Because of the short chapters, you are able to whizz through the book, but you also find yourself skimming through most of it because there is too much detail.
