The Fugitives

Memo to jacket design: this version you have done with the bright blue background and the comic bomb won’t do. The book is about the kidnapping of two boys after a terrorist bombing and yes, it has light touches – the two boys think they caused the bombing with a firework and accept help from the terrorists because one is a woman and they have been particularly warned about taking lifts from strange men (the woman is the hardened leader), with help only offered because the boys have seen the terrorists’ faces. Much of the story takes place in a rural Welsh cottage where the boys only gradually realise what has happened and who their helpers really are, while enjoying the kind of rural holiday unknown to them as city kids, particularly with the male terrorist, a better father to them in many ways than the ones they actually have. It has a lively, contemporary feel with a range of moral issues handled cleverly and lightly and a strong command of dialogue to create character and develop the story. This cover sells a good read short and sends the wrong signals to the range of readers who will enjoy its fast-paced action and dialogue. There’s different kinds of ‘funny’: you’ve done slapstick – this is irony with a fair dose of sad. (Memo to editor: please can we have could’ve rather than ‘could of’?)