Mr Ripley's New Children's and Teens Book Picks: Published January 2014

                     

                              
Julian Sedgwick - Mysterium 2: The Palace of Memory - Published by Hodder Children's Books - 2, Jan 2014
Danny Woo has escaped from the jaws of death once - but his trials are not yet over. He's meant to be recovering, but when he discovers the Mysterium - the circus into which he was born, and which cost his parents their lives - is being reformed in Barcelona, he determines to join them. But all is not well - who is the bad seed inside the once-loyal company? And who is the woman in green who can kill, and who seems to be trailing Danny with each move he makes? Everything, he knows, is linked to the death of his parents: he must continue his quest to find his parents' killers. Once again, the story culminates in Danny's participation in a well-known and dangerous stunt.
                   

Alan Gibbons - Raining Fire - Published by Indigo - 16, Jan 2014
The gun is the coward's fist. The gun is power. Alex and Ethan are growing up on an estate where there are just two choices: sport or crime. Ethan is selected for a football training programme in the US, his chance to escape the gangs that terrorise his neighbourhood. But Alex is drawn into an explosive feud with a gun at its heart. In this gripping and absorbing real life thriller, Alan Gibbons explores the complex issue of gun crime, and the far reaching consequences it can have.

M. J Howes - Feed - Published by Chicken House - 2, Jan 2014

Fourteen-year-old friends Lola and Patrick are in desperate trouble - along with everybody else. Monstrous enemy invaders have increased their human raids. Those taken face a terrible fate: like animals they will be transported, processed and eaten in a food chain like no other - unless Lola and Patrick can find a way to save them.

                      

Ruth Warburton - WitchFinder: Witch Finder - Published by Hodder Children's Books - 2, Jan 2014

London. 1880. In the slums of Spitalfields apprentice blacksmith Luke is facing initiation into the Malleus Maleficorum, the fearsome brotherhood dedicated to hunting and killing witches.
Luke’s final test is to pick a name at random from the Book of Witches, a name he must track down and kill within a month, or face death himself. Luke knows that tonight will change his life forever. But when he picks out sixteen-year-old Rosa Greenwood, Luke has no idea that his task will be harder than he could ever imagine.