Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz

                                                               

 

2015, first published 2011  

This is the ninth of the Alex Rider books.  The pace and the tension have increased even more.   There is a marked emotional tension this time as well.  He gets even closer to Jack Starbright and we also learn that there has been a meaningful kiss between him and Sabine Pleasure.   

Alex meets his doppelganger, Julius Grief. Grief is a clone of his father and in a previous novel has been made to look exactly like Alex.  Alex kills for the first time.  He confronts his evil “twin”.

Alan Blunt is about to be replaced by Mrs Jones as the head of M16. Blunt has fallen out of favour with the Prime Minister. At the end of the novel we learn that Blunt has acted in a devious way.  All is not black and white.  We are verging on YA material. Blunt comments that “A German philosopher once wrote that he who fights monsters must take care that he doesn’t become one himself.  Our work is monstrous. I’m afraid there is no escaping it” (427).  Is this foreshadowing something for Alex?  The blurb on the back of the book describes this as “Alex’s final mission”.  There is another book. Will Ale become a monster?

Alex is changed. Jack has died because of becoming involved in one of Alex’s activities. Alex has taken a life.   

We have many adult points of view here. The first 107 pages are about various criminal activities and also some of Alan Blunt’s and Mrs Jones’ work. Blunt and Jones have a significant chapter towards the end of the novel.  We are also in the point of view of Edward Pleasure near the end.

The novel ends on an upbeat note.  Scorpia has been shut down and many of its members are arrested. Alex leaves London, taking very few belongings and goes to live with the Pleasures in San Francisco.

The book is 431 pages long with blocked text in a simple font.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

 

2017

This tackles many themes that interest the target reader.  John Green presents us with death, cancer, depression, grief, family relationships, peer relationships and some mild peer pressure. Green also explores the notion of fiction, both in his notes within the book and in the character of Peter Van Houten, a drunk and an egoist who has at one time been a writer. 

Importantly, Green encourages us to look at those who suffer from cancer as whole people, not just as victims of a disease.  These need not necessarily be nice people. 

Nice or not, the characters are richly drawn. As we have come to expect from Green, the characters are rounded and believable. Hazel narrates the story and has been given a convincing and consistent voice.      

       

The growth in protagonist Hazel is mild and somewhat negative though we also have plenty of positives:  love, romance, gentle sex and for some, survival.   

The book is some 316 pages long so has a respectable spine. The text s blocked and a serif font, with difficult  ‘a’s and ‘g’s is used.  A bordering on adult readership is further confirmed by quit demanding language and much abstract, philosophical thought.  This edition was published in 2017. The novel was first published in 2012.        
      

How to Make Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow

2019 
 

Tiger has lived with just her mother all of her life. She has never met her father. Her mother’s attention becomes stifling. They row about Tiger going to the prom but then her mother suddenly dies before they can make up. The dress that her mother had bought for her for the prom is hideous but Tiger keeps on wearing it after her mother’s death. 

 There are now quite a few novels that deal with grief in young adults but perhaps none that bring us quite as close to the protagonist as this one does. Tiger has a variety of concerned adults looking after her: Karen, her social worker, a one-night stand foster parent, a couple of more effective foster parents, her best friend’s mum and dad and finally the half-sister she had not heard of before.

She is shown much sympathy but few can offer empathy. However, Kathleen Glasgow enables the reader to feel Tiger’s pain. 

Tiger eventually finds others who are suffering as she is and understand her sorrow.  Glasgow has the courtesy not to magic the hurt away and though the novel ends on an optimistic note we know that Tiger will continue to suffer.

This is not a comfortable read but it is an important one.