Review:
Being by Kevin Brooks
Penguin
Books, 2007
(13+) In hospital for a routine operation for a suspected ulcer, Robert
wakes up during the procedure, and alarmingly finds that he is in the
basement, and the opening in his stomach has revealed not flesh and
blood, but different coloured strands of wire, mechanical things where
his organs should be. Men in the room are not hospital attendants but
people with guns, giving orders, and he grabs one of the guns and
escapes. Later in a hotel room, he cuts into himself to check what he
saw. He cannot explain to himself what has happened, but simply and
instinctively knows he must flee.
An exciting, fast paced action thriller,
Being will have a ready audience.
Robert is a smart character, taking all sorts of risks to get out of
London to a place of safety. Boys particularly will thrill with his
near miss adventures as he keeps one step ahead of the unknown Ryan,
the commanding man with the gun in the hospital basement.
I found some of the introspection a little wearing, but the readers
will love it as they identify with Robert, alone and having to piece
together what he knows to work out what he is. I was eagerly looking
forward to answers at the end of the book, but there wasn't one. There
is a
web site where
readers can contribute thoughts and questions, rather than having a
sequel to read. An interesting slant on the amazing number of series
books now being written, and which I assumed this would be.
Fran Knight
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Consulting, 2007