Unbeliever

I hope that the readers who are drawn to this book by the combination of the title and the hypnotic cover with its glaring eye and superimposed crucifix will stick with it and not be disappointed they haven't got a 'Point Horror' clone as it is certainly well worth reading. Swindells has used short, pacey chapters to good effect in novels such as Hydra and Time-Snatch and he does the job again here for perhaps a slightly older audience. Annabel's mother is seriously ill with cancer and Dad seeks solace in the teachings of a fundamentalist Christian sect, The Little Children. As he tries to impose his new views on his family, life gets increasingly difficult for 15-year-old Annabel. The final straw comes when Dad drags her away from the shopping mall as she and her friends watch their favourite band open the new record store and she runs away. The resolution - in which the sect is revealed as a front for child sexual abuse - is a trifle contrived but there are plenty of kids who like neat, happy endings and Swindells deals with some serious, adult issues in an approachable way.