Stefan lives in a future England where books that might lead children astray are banned completely or rewritten, notably '1984' and 'The Catcher in the Rye'. Stefan's Dad is a bookshop owner fighting back through underground publishing, but Stefan becomes caught up in a plan to shield an author which leads him to be branded a terrorist.

Review: This is a hard-hitting but exciting look at a future where the nanny state has morphed into something of a police state, with technology enabling every email or mobile phone communication to be monitored,and all citizens to be instantly identifiable from CCTV. Stefan is wholly credible as the intelligent 16-year-old hero who wants to believe the state is right, but manages to get on the wrong side of the law. His process of trying to make sense of life while escaping capture, and his ultimate reconciliation with his father enables him to work through all the lies around him and see what has to be the truth of the world he is in.

This is an excellent examination of the issues around peaceful protest as well as 'freedom fighting' and the thin line that divides it from terrorism, all well placed in a fast-moving adventure. Sam Mills has done for this subject what she did for misplaced religious zeal in "The Boys who Saved the World" - encapsulating through story some important issues for teenagers and for adults who are interested in their world.

2010-02-03