Synopsis: “Time we were heading for the surface,” Mr Marks said calmly. “And don’t worry about the noises. There are always noises in caves. Rock falls in the distance. No danger to us.”

 And that’s when it happened.

Review: Yet another excellent book for teenagers from talented author Catherine MacPhail.

We begin the book by getting introduced to our main characters, all flawed in some way (almost like the deadly sins): Zesh is proud, Fiona is vain, Axel is wrath, Liam is jealousy and Angie (although a guardian angel in disguise?!?!) is greed - maybe. They are selected to go on a special school trip, with their teacher Mr Marks, which includes caving. While in the caves they experience a cave-in and Mr Marks is knocked unconscious. The teens are left to deal with the fear and find a way out on their own. There is also a side-story about the legend of a giant worm that lives in the caves, and extracts from the ‘diary’ of a young Nazi who is left wandering the caves back in the 1940’s (which our characters never actually get to read). The legend heightens the fear factor in the caves, although the point of the ‘diary’ extracts are a little less clear. The ending is clever, leaving the reader satisfied but with still a little mystery.

You’d think this book would be very moralistic. They’d all fight at first but then they’d learn to work together and save themselves. Not so. They never really learn to work together - they practically kill each other. What they do learn is to appreciate each other’s differences and not to be so nasty to each other. Maybe it’s a book about accepting other people’s faults.

Catherine MacPhail is a true author of teenage fiction. Her writing is very accessible and aimed squarely at her intended audience, but it covers themes that most pre-teens couldn’t handle, in this case: fear, relationships, duty, doing what’s right etc. It’s pitched exactly right for your average teen (rather than your bookworm teen) and I think a lot of non-readers would be pleasantly surprised to find such books exist. Especially recommended for 13yr+ reluctant readers.