Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books: Mr Ripley's Children's Book Picks - September 2015 - UK Post One

Jonathan Stroud - Lockwood & Co: The Hollow Boy - Published by Doubleday Children's (24 September 2015)
Lockwood & Co. might be the smallest (some might say shambollic) Psychic Detection Agency in London. But its three agents - Lockwood, Lucy and George - are exceptional Talents. And they get results. When an outbreak of ghostly phenomena grows to terrifying levels in Chelsea, Scotland Yard is left baffled. Even more baffling is that Lockwood & Co appear to have been excluded from the huge team of Agents investigating the Chelsea Outbreak. Surely this is the perfect chance for them to show once and for all that they're actually the best in town? Well, that's if they can put aside their personal differences for long enough to march into action with their rapiers, salt and iron...Ghouls and spectres, thrills and tension in this brand-new instalment in Jonathan Stroud's best selling series. "Stroud is a genius." (Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson series).

Tom Becker - Dark Room (Red Eye) - Published by Stripes Publishing (10 September 2015)
The camera never lies...Darla and her dad are looking for a fresh start. But when they wind up in affluent Saffron Hills, Darla stands no chance of fitting in with the beautiful, selfie-obsessed teens at her new school. Just when she thinks things can't get any worse, she starts having visions. The gruesome snapshots flashing into Darla's mind seem to suggest she's going crazy...until she realizes they're actually a horrifying glimpse into the future. With a killer on the loose, can she make sense of what she's seeing before it's too late?

Brian Selznick - The Marvels - Published by Scholastic Press (15 September 2015) 
In The Marvels, Selznick crafts another remarkable artistic and bookmaking achievement that weaves together two seemingly unrelated stories-one in words, the other in pictures-with spellbinding synergy. The illustrated story begins in 1766 with Billy Marvel, the lone survivor of a shipwreck, and charts the adventures of his family of actors over five generations. The prose story opens in 1990 and follows Joseph, who has run away from school to an estranged uncle's puzzling house in London, where he, along with the reader, must piece together many mysteries. Filled with mystery, vibrant characters, surprise twists, and heart-rending beauty, and featuring Selznick's most arresting art to date, The Marvels is a moving tribute to the power of story.

Tim Kennemore - Circle of Doom - Published by Andersen Press (3 September 2015)
Lizzie, Max and Dan have never liked their neighbours, the fussy and nagging Potwards, so when it appears that Lizzie's magic potion has made them move out, the children should be delighted. Their glee is short-lived, however, as they worry over who might move in, and more magic seems necessary. Soon the three children are caught in a web of secrecy and conspiracy as one spell leads to another, each more powerful than the last. And then Max decides to cast a spell of his own, on his very worst enemy. . .

+++ Tom Becker - While The Others Sleep - Book Review +++

                            

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this before about Tom Becker, but he is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors. Therefore, when I received this book in the post I was very excited to read it. Especially as it is a book that I have really wanted to read this year.

This is the seventh book that has been published so far by Tom Becker and I hope there will be many more to come. He has written five great books in the fantastic Darkside Series. However, the sixth book 'The Traitors', which is Tom's first standalone book, is one of my favourite reads from last year and has been longlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2013.  

With this book, While The Others Sleep, Tom has pulled out another cracker. He has written a good, old-fashioned, supernatural thriller that will surely become a classic one day. Alfie Mandeville is the newest patient to be sent to the sanatorium for children. Sent by his father for treatment to make him better, as he suffers from sleep insomnia, he finds himself in a complicated situation. Be warned that reading this book will not help with the curing of any sleep insomnia. Alfie tries to uncover what is going on, but he ends up wrestling with his need for a logical explanation against his sleep-deprived imagination.

Scarbrook House is a sanatorium for wealthy children, it's a fantastic setting for this book. Picturesque on the outside whilst creepy and edgy on the inside; it's a dark place full of twisted secrets. Terrible things have happened within the house and are still continuing to happen throughout the story. This book delivers a mixture of both supernatural horror and mayhem.

Many of the characters have an eerie and disconcerting quality about them. Each character has a story to tell; they are all patients with sinister ailments that need to be overcome. However, they all seek treatment from a rather drunk Dr Grenfell who, in my opinion, needed a little bit more life injected into him as a character and perhaps more background detail in order to enhance the story. 

I think that you will love this book as much as I do. You may find that there are some similarities with another book (e.g. stately building with a twisted historical past told as a psychological thriller) that I have already reviewed this year, but that was also a cracking book. 

This book finishes with a climatic seat-of-your-pants experience. It is written in a very clever way with some amazing touches of imagination. It is a book that certainly lived up to my very high expectations and in more ways then one. I am looking forward to reading the next instalment.  

Published By Scholastic - 4 March 2013

Tom Becker - The Traitors - Book Review

                                         

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic; 1 edition (5 April 2012)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 1407109529
• ISBN-13: 978-1407109527
• It has been quite a long time since I last read the Darkside book 'BlackJack' by Tom Becker. That was, until last year, when his new book dropped through my letterbox. Although, whilst I wanted to read this book straight away, I knew that this wasn't a wise decision as it wasn't due to be published for another 6 months. In my opinion, that is a little bit too early to post a review as readers can become frustrated with the time lapse. However, as soon as it started to get a little bit closer to the publication date I could feel myself being unable to wait any longer. Therefore, I gave into temptation and read it - it was definitely well worth the wait!
• 
  
  This book is another dark and deep story. It has a great plot - although if you really thought about all the possible hows and whys then you could find some possible holes.
  The story begins with a moral betrayal - Adam, the main character, kisses the girlfriend of his best friend. From this moment things take an eerie turn. Especially when the radio in his bedroom suddenly springs into life stating "this is the Dial calling". However, when Adam's name is mentioned alongside the word traitor, the story suddenly finds Adam running for his life. 
• • But who can he trust in a world full of traitors...?

• • 
    

The first aspect I enjoyed about this book was the backdrop that the author created. "The Dial" is a particularly great setting that I was able to visualise with ease. The book is full of the unexpected - lots of timely twists and turns that keep you on your toes. The book hooked me with its many varied characters, some may make comments about the possible stereotypical portrayals. This maybe so, but it works for me. 
• Two particular areas that I wanted to explore within the book were the library - this sounded like an amazing place for discovery. There are opportunities to visit this brilliant place on a number of occasions in the story under the watchful eye of Bookworm the librarian. The other area that I wanted to explore was the sport being played inside "The Dial" called Bucketball. This entails one ball, two teams and two buckets. It takes no prisoners - whilst there might not be many rules, there are certainly plenty of broken bones and scrapes. I will leave the rest to your imagination!
 
This is one of the best books that I've read this year - I loved every minute of it. There's plenty to get you hooked such as the dark atmospheric feel you get, also the dangerous world that is introduced as well as the great character dialogue.  Some of the inspiration was taken from real-life prisoner of war stories from the second world war. Aspects of these are deployed throughout this book which really give it feeling. 
This book has a number of brilliant and awesome moments. Through different discoveries, we peel away another layer and add more to the story. It has a real punch to the end but with a promise of so much more, which I would really love. Buy this book, read this book and then share it with friends.  
You Can Run But You Can't Hide..........