After his parents' split and then his father's sudden death, Finn Oliver is finding life tough. But when he crashes his Mum's car out joyriding and ends up in an underworld of the woken dead, the ensuing adventures turn his life around.

Finn Oliver is about to celebrate his 12th birthday, but there's not a lot of joy in his life. Having suffered the double whammy of his parents' split and his father's sudden death in a flying accident, Finn feels lost, oppressed by his mother's depression and in need of some escape. The resulting joyride in his Mum's car, across the Yorkshire Moors in heavy rain, leads inexorably to a dreadful crash that would have killed Finn outright had it not been for the fact that the car hits the surface of the earth at Exit 43, sliding through a 'membrane' into the Underworld.

First-time novelist Harriet Goodwin has received many a plaudit for this novel, not least being short-listed in the 'Book I Couldn't Put Down' category of the 2010 Blue Peter Book Awards. I must admit that I was not initially gripped, but my perseverance paid off. Once you get to grips with the hodgepodge of underworld characters, ranging from Viking nasties to kindly Victorians and the rather complex geography, the story rattles along and develops into a very definite page-turner.

Goodwin's powers of imagination have been hard at work in creating the novel's 'Underworld' and its accompanying terminology. For example, modern day life, from whence Finn has been catapulted, is known as the 'Other Side,' the spirits have to serve 'Inbetween Time' for 150 years gathering enough heat before they can enter the Underworld, but they are able to carry out 'ascents' out into the 'Other Side' if they pass an 'exit exam.' The geography of the cavernous Underworld involves - amongst many tunnels, vaults, gateways and fires - the 'Igneous Fountain,' the 'Red Temple' and the 'Museum of Artefacts,'  - actually a map would not have gone amiss.

Finn meets a wealth of spirit characters after his descent, but it is his friendship with young, humane Jessie Sherratt - an antecedent it turns out - that proves pivotal. Together they struggle, to save the Underworld from flooding - as the membrane separating it from earth weakens - and they battle the elements in an attempt to fulfil the 'Prophecy of the Firepearl.' These adventures rebuild Finn's self-esteem, and from his experiences and conversations with Jessie, he learns about listening to and following his own heart, thus effecting a confrontation with his own suppressed emotions in relation to his adored, dead father.

An action-packed read, with many rich ingredients. And yet, whilst creating historical characters, Morgan Bloodaxe the vicious Viking, for example, who, like Finn, has his own personal 'issues' with his father, Goodwin plays a bit too loose with historical credibility for the sake of contemporary readability. Although, the spirits have to learn to speak 'modern' for their exits, I am not convinced that back in the Underworld, a proper Viking boy would really say: "He's off his head....Mortal Boy's finally flipped."

2010-03-03