Storm and Stone

The next step up from an Enid Blyton  adventure story and with the additions of guns and plenty of kissing, this tale of a posh British boarding school with a sinister secret starts promisingly before self-destructing in an orgy of improbabilities. Raven Stone, a 17-year-old American orphan, suddenly finds herself bullied by those who were once her friends. She turns for help to Kieran and Joe, two under-cover young detectives sent on a mission to discover what is really going on. Some not very convincing involvement of a blackmailing international group of crooks is revealed, but before this Raven has fallen for handsome, clever but up to that moment unapproachable Kieran. Fortunately he reciprocates while also coming to terms with a school so weird and unlikely that even the current government might feel drawn into closing it down. In a protracted climax a dangerous thug is effortlessly bound and gagged by young heroes who then manage to escape down that ever-reliable prop, the laundry chute. The author writes with commendable drive and for a time at least readers may well find themselves swept along by a story that promises so much more than it finally delivers.