Cuckoo

Jake has always been an actor-principally in a long-running and hugely popular soap. However, his character has been in limbo for 6 months and Jake is beginning to realise that the work which he has relied on for so long has finally come to an end. Suddenly, life presses in on him: his father cannot keep a job because of his violent temper; his older brother is severely autistic and the family has run into financial difficulties which have resulted in his father using all Jake’s savings-without his knowledge-in a vain attempt to hold on to their family home.

They must all now cope in a cramped flat and Jake decides this intolerable situation can only be avoided by sleeping at friends’ houses-until their parents’ patience runs out. He becomes homeless and, at his lowest ebb, resolves to tell his story through a serialised film which he and his friends then post online, inviting comments from those who view it.

This is an intriguing and cleverly constructed book, thoroughly modern in format but timeless in the issues with which it deals-and there are many of them! Celebrity, Alzheimer’s, anger and confrontation, homelessness, friendship, autism, the power of the spoken word……yet they weave together in a fast and entertaining read. Disappointingly, for all the book’s freshness and contemporary feel there is a happy Hollywood ending which grates rather against the realism of the rest of the narrative. Despite this irritant, David has produced a book which hits the Young Adult market dead centre and which will have much which is familiar to say to its readers.