13 year old Gabe is trying to live his new life. This new life is without his dad after he was killed in a car
crash. Mum is sad all the time and working night shifts at a supermarket to try and pay the bills. Gabe’s elder sister Hannah is trying to get on with things and also adjust to this new normal.
At the funeral, Gabe meets his uncle Jesse, Dad’s younger brother. Gabe is left wondering why they haven’t met him earlier, unaware about things that happened before he was born. He tries to focus on other things like his popular computer game ‘Small Town Hero’ and its endless challenges, and his favourite thing in the entire world – football.
When Mum gets a new job and is required to go on a week long course, the timing couldn’t be worse. It’s the school holidays and Hannah is off to an outdoor course of her own. Mum takes up Uncle Jesse’s offer of help at the funeral and Gabe is soon on a train to stay with his uncle in London.
Uncle Jesse is nothing like his brother and Gabe struggles to figure him out, but they soon find they have something in common. Only one other person they know has this gift and she has long gone. Gabe wants to understand the strange dreams he’s been having. They seem so real, and sometimes they even feel like he is predicting the future. Or, is he actually making these things happen?
Uncle Jesse tries to explain what’s happening, but talk of Schrodinger’s Cat, Black Holes and an endless stream of alternate realities is too hard to comprehend – at first. Then Gabe decides how he can fix things.
This is something different. Patrick Ness says ‘….a plot that will melt your brain out of your ears,’ on the cover. This story of family, loss, grief, science and football was definitely mind-bending but as in all well-written novels, the more the main character learnt, the more I (the reader) understood it.
Gabe talks directly to the reader, (1st person past tense) as if he’s trying to work things out as he tells his story. What is happening to him is strange, but real life is happening around him too. His best friend seems to have found new friends. Social media causes an arrest, then a fight, then almost the unthinkable. A brilliant read for 12+ boys, but girls will love it too.
Author – Patrick Neate
Age – 12+
Quick Review
A 13 yr old boy loses his father then meets his uncle at the funeral. Little does he know they share an amazing talent. His uncle helps him understand what’s happening to him, as he journeys through his grief, broken friendships, social media, family honour and a life threatening situation.
(2020, Walker Books NZ, Science, Dimensions. Alternate Realities, Truth, Friendships, Football, Soccer, Video Games, Gaming, Computers, Watford Football, Soccer school, Grief, Loss, Family, Loyalty, Social Media)