Crusher by Niall Leonard
![cover image](https://www.readplus.com.au/covers/crusher1.jpg)
Doubleday, 2012. ISBN 9780 857 53209 1.
(Ages: 14+) Crime fiction. Coming home from his brain dead job at a
take away chicken joint in London, Finn finds his house is quiet and
the curtains pulled across.Feeling uneasy he finds his father's body
slumped over the table, blood damp across his bashed in head.
Calling in the police means he is the main suspect, and he takes it
into his head to investigate the murder himself. There follows an
easy to read crime fiction thriller, following his steps to uncover
the murderer.
His father, really a stepfather, was an out of work actor, and
wanted to write a novel about London's underworld. His need to
investigate characters as fully as he could may have meant that he
had got too close to McGovern, the underworld boss, so that is the
first place Finn starts to look. In an impulsive move, Finn gets
inside the man's house and from there the reader's nerves will
tingle as Finn tries to avoid McGovern and the policemen who are
convinced he is their murderer. A number of characters seem to want
to help Finn but he is wary, feeling that they possibly know more
than they are letting on.
This is such an easy read, jumping so easily from one event to
another without much subtlety, that young readers will be entranced.
Cliched situations and characters abound, but are most acceptable in
this easily digested story. For younger secondary readers, it will
introduce the reader to the genre, one becoming more prevalent in
the young adult market, and for those more used to this genre, this
will be a few hours of easy escapism as Finn strolls around
situations others would not dare enter.
Leonard's background as a screenwriter comes thorough as many
episodes are very filmic, the settings minutely detailed and the
characters easy to recognise, with a little sex thrown into the mix.
Fran Knight