Wednesday 27 November 2013

SJ Bolton made me "Dead Scared". #ALLD13

Aylesbury Library is holding its first ever Literary Day on 30th November, which will be host to several great local authors. One of them is award-winning, bestselling crime-writer SJ Bolton...

Some crime novels are as cosy as tea and cake by the fireside; where everyone ends up happy (except for the deceased, presumably), and the world is a happy, bubbling place. And then there are crime novels that snare you like a fishhook to the mouth; where you know you shouldn't continue reading past dark, but you just can't put it down. Books where no one survives unscathed, and the world is a fearful place that ends ultimately in death.

Guess which sort of book SJ Bolton writes?

I was thirty pages into my first SJ Bolton book, when I realised I should have paid more heed to the title: Dead Scared. You know a writer is good when a table covered with pine cones is enough to give you goosebumps.

Dead Scared sees a surprising number of young, attractive and fragile Cambridge students committing suicide in a number of ghoulish and inventive ways. Student councillor and psychiatrist Evie Oliver is suspicious that these deaths are more than they appear - and she's also certain that someone keeps breaking into her house...

Lacey Flint, a young police officer with a past, is drafted in to pose undercover as a student so that she can observe the campus, and keep an eye out for any secretive suicide death cults. Of course we know that things don't go to plan - in fact, Bolton makes that plainly clear by her prologue: Lacey standing at the top of a building, dead-eyed and suicidal. And about to jump. The rest of the story is a countdown to this ending, and each new day in the story gives a heading of how many days to go to this cataclysmic event.

This is a modern gothic thriller that really knows how to deliver both the thrills and the chills in the story. It feels as if the story has been well-researched (hopefully not too deeply researched), and Bolton has a good understanding of the effects of the both media and social media. The characterisation is good - Lacey and Evie particularly have distinct, believable personalities and voices. Both characters had appeared in previous SJ Bolton novels: Lacey in Bolton's previous novel, Now You See Me (no magians here, but a Jack the Ripper copycat fixated on Lacey) , and Evie in Blood Harvest (a disturbing thriller revolving around the discovery of two children's bodies). Despite this, you don't have to have read the previous books to enjoy this one - and you learn Lacey and Evie's backstories as you get to know them better. As Evie pines for her lost love Harry, there's a good building romance between Lacey and her DI, Mark Joesbury, who's clearly in love with her. All the recurring characters are truly human, and are still dealing with the fallout from the earlier novels. 

But it's as a crime nasty where the book really stands out. The inventive suicides (I won't spoil them for you here, but one in particular was jaw-dropping), the pervading sense of fear and dread (I had to make sure my door was locked and the curtains were pulled tightly across the window!) and the clues, red herrings, and plot twists work really well. Of course, savvy crime readers watch out for the red herrings, but there was one clue in particular that I just couldn't decide upon. Some of the scene-setting descriptions were exceptionally creepy, and I couldn't help but repeat it out loud to my fellow library ninjas. Lines like, "The January chill comes drifting over the Fens and wraps itself across the city like a paedophile's hand round that of a small, unresisting child." And a villain who clings to her boyfriend "like a bad smell around rotting meat." The book opens with a graphic, detailed description of what happens when a person falls a long distance to their death, and despite the factual, deadpanned tone, I can imagine SJ Bolton cackling with glee as she wrote it. This is an author who knows how to scare people, and likes it.

If you don't like being scared, then keep away from this book. But if you like authors like Mark Billingham or Phil Rickman, or are on the lookout for a well-written, original thriller, then SJ Bolton is a must read.

I'm currently reading her latest novel, Like This, For Ever. It's about a serial killer targetting ten year old boys, and draining their blood. I don't think it's going to end well...

Don't forget, you can meet SJ Bolton at Aylesbury Library this Saturday (30th November), at 12.50, where she'll discuss the art of a good scare. Her Twitter page (@AuthorSJBolton) describes her as "Nice Author. Nasty Books. (Or should that be the other way round?)" I sure hope not, because if she's as nasty as her books, I don't think I'd survive meeting her!
Literally.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Ben's Best Picture Books of 2013!


There's just a few weeks to go until Christmas, and if you're wondering which Lego set to get the kids, or whether to buy a Furby instead, [helpful hint: don't] I'm offering my choices of the best picture books released this year, in case, y'know, you think they'd like a nice book too. My criteria - as a library ninja, and above all as a Dad - is that it looks good, it reads well, it's fun, and um, it's not overly long. (You know the sinking feeling you get at the kids' bedtime, when you're dying for a cup of tea, and they get out a rubbish, over-wordy picture book tome!) Oh, and they must be ones that stands up to re-reads, obviously. And preferably ones you can do good voices to!

My stand-out favourite is Cheese Belongs to You, by Alexis Deacon and Viviane Schwartz. It's a really simple book, that explains that This is Rat Law: CHEESE BELONGS TO YOU. But what if there's a bigger rat? Or a stronger rat? Or a faster rat? Then the cheese belongs to them. The calibre of rat keeps on escalating - but who will get the cheese in the end?
The text and pictures combine to make an erratic, messy marvel of a picture book. It's quirky. It's bonkers. And it's pitch perfect.

A close second is Very little Red Riding Hood, by Teresa Heapy and Sue Heap. Traditional retellings of fairy tales have gone out of fashion, but as this story shows, a twist done well is a good tale indeed! The major change here is Very little Red Riding Hood herself. No longer a meek, rather stupid girl, she is transformed into a bold, charismatic, irrepressible little girl, aged two or three. Foxy - I mean, the Big Bad Wolf - doesn't stand a chance. Great fun, and definitely one to read aloud.

You may think that my five year old boy liked Cheese Belongs to You with the squabbling rats, and my two year old girl liked Very Little Red Riding Hood, and not the other way round. But both children were really taken by both kids, and enthusiastically chose them multiple times.

Here are some other really good books from this year...

If you're looking for something charming, try these three:

The Midnight Library by Kazuno Kohara. If it's 'charming' you want, then you can't get better than Kazuno Kohara, whose books are ridiculously lovely. It features a library that's open every night for the woodland animals. The little librarian and her three owls will do whatever it takes to serve their borrowers. Sweet, and perfect for library lovers of all ages!


The Further Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat by Julia Donaldson and Charlotte Voake. As the title suggests, this story continues the tale of the Owl and the Pussycat, told in the same verse structure as in Edward Lear's original. Julia Donaldson is a master of verse and rhyme, and takes Lear's mantle seamlessly. In my opinion, Charlotte Voake is at her best when illustrating animals, and the result of this collaboration is a really lovely book.

Abigail, by Catherine Rayner. Abigail the giraffe loves counting, but everything keeps moving! Will she ever be able to get her friends to do some counting with her? This is a really nice story - counting 1267 stars made my son go "Woh!" - but with Catherine Rayner, her gorgeous animal artwork is the true star.

If you're looking for something a bit raucous and anarchic, try these four:


Aunt Amelia, by Rebecca Cobb. Mum and Dad are away for the night, and the children are dismayed that Aunt Amelia is looking after them. She even has a list left by the parents: don't let the children get muddy, don't let them play by the pond. Only, Aunt Amelia is a crocodile, and the lists of Don'ts make good inspiration for a fun day out! Rebecca Cobb is a fairly new author/illustrator, but has already worked with some big names, such as Helen Dunmore, Richard Curtis, and Julia Donaldson, for last year's The Paper Dolls. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of her.

Ding Dong Gorilla, by Michelle Robinson and Leonie Lord. This absolute hoot of a story is a boy's explanation to his parents of the bad news about the pizza they ordered for dinner. Because when the doorbell  ding-donged, the boy answered it, but it wasn't the pizza - it was a gorilla! The gorilla causes chaos in the house, making mess after mess. The story builds up to the punch line about the bad news. The fun-filled pictures are a perfect match for the text, written very much in the boy's voice. Read it, but eat your pizza first.


Too Noisy! by Malachy Doyle and Ed Vere. Sam and his family are Bungles, and are always making loads of noise. But Sam, the middle child prefers to sit quietly and daydream and rhyme. So he wanders off into the woods. But when he can't find his way back, he realises that a bit of noise is a good thing! The text of the story is full of good noises for reading aloud, and Ed Vere's artwork is, as ever, great fun.

Primrose, by Alex T Smith. Primrose is a princess who wants to have fun; climb trees, play dressing-up, and bake cakes. But she's always told that "Princesses don't act like that!" The King and Queen don't know what to do with her, so they ask the prim, bossy Grandmama to help. Grandmama knows just how to fix things - but not in the way the King and Queen expect! This book has proven very popular with my daughter, in particular.

So there's my selection for the year - of course, there's still plenty of time to discover lots more lovely picture books! Have you discovered any good picture books this year? If so, let me know!

Friday 1 November 2013

"Slated" by Teri Terry - British Dystopian Teen Fiction #ALLD13

On the 30th November, Aylesbury Library are having their first Literary Day, playing host to loads of great local authors. One of them is teen author - and ex-Princes Risborough librarian - Teri Terry...


Think of the modern trend of (often excellent) dystopian thrillers, you'll think of The Hunger Games (The film of part 2 - Catching Fire - is out in November). You may think of Divergent (film out next April), or Wool (film on its way). What you don't normally think of is the Buckinghamsire countryside! But that's what you get in Slated, the first of a trilogy by Bucks author Teri Terry. And yes, it's begun the long process of being made into a film, too.

Slated is set fifty years in the future, in a Britain where child and teen criminals have their memories wiped - slated - and are given a second chance in life. They have to relearn to walk, talk and re-adjust to life, and are given a new name and a new family. 'Slateds' are naive, trusting, incurious. They are happy, by and large - and a good thing too, because they wear levos, which monitor their mood, and causes blackouts and even death if the count drops too low.

A 16 year-old girl is slated, renamed Kyla, and given to a new family (in the Chiltern countryside). But Kyla finds she is not like other slateds - she has terrifying nightmares that may or may not be old memories. Extreme anger should make her black out, but it doesn't. And she begins to question things that mustn't be questioned. What happened in her old life? Why was she slated? These are dangerous questions, for the country is policed by the ominous Lorders, agents who bundle away undesirables, and the slightest misstep could see her "returned" - whatever that means.

Kyla soon finds that her questions are as dangerous to those around her as they are to herself. She quickly grows close to slated heartthrob Ben, and her indignant curiosity sparks changes his accepting nature, taking him on a path Kyla can't control.

The book is at its most intriguing when Kyla is trying to sort out the puzzle of her mind and her identity. The book explores muscle memory - her body knows how to do things she can't consciously do, and subconsciousness, and by the start of Fractured, it's sequel, it is dealing with something akin to multiple personality disorder. Kyla, herself, is fractured.

It's a lazy comparison to call Slated a British Hunger Games, and inaccurate for several reasons. The world of Slated is actually a lot more lifelike than most dystopias. It's governed by the Central Coalition (sound familiar?), and the changes within Britain are ones you could genuinely see become an issue, if we had the technology. But also, Slated is more of a slow burner than Hunger Games and the others. This isn't exactly a criticism, but it doesn't have the epic-ness of some other dystopian fiction. Not because it tries but fails, but because so much of the story is about what's going on within Kyla. Slated's climax is insular to Kyla - it will be intresting to see if they pull it off in the film (assuming - and hoping - it gets made). But be in no doubt, this is a great piece of fiction. It's clever, it's original, it's engaging. Slated sows the seeds for Fractured, which has more action in, and is bigger scale. And I can't wait to see how it all turns out when the final part of the trilogy, Shattered, is released next year.

And don't forget, you can meet the author Teri Terry as she discusses the books and the role of dystopian fiction in general at the Aylesbury Library Literary Day on 30th November!