Hold On

by Alan Gibbons

We hear this story in turn about from two sources – the diary of John, who we know from the start has died, and the recollections of school mate Annie. Although never a friend of John's, they happened to meet some months before on holidays a long way from home. John is not someone she has paid any attention to - in fact she rather fancied one of the boys who turns out to have been tormenting John for years. But she learns from him something of the bullying he has suffered and sees first hand how harshly John’s father treats him.

Who is responsible for John's death? Annie thinks she knows and returns to England bent on exposing the bullies. But could she be implicated? Her friendship with John stirred up feelings in him that were more than she wanted. Has she done the right thing? Can she accept that others have learned from this hard experience? Why didn’t John do more to expose the classmates who terrorised him? And did he really intend to kill himself?

Alan Gibbons stirs up emotions and asks us to put ourselves in the places of the major characters of this drama. Many of us will identify with the friends and teachers in the story who are very wary of causing a fuss, but also played their part. A gripping read.

This author seems to make every story he writes a thriller. Other excellent books by Gibbons held by the library include The Legendeer Trilogy - Shadow of the Minotaur, Vampyr Legion and Warriors of the Raven. Even his humorous books tell stories at a mile a minute - like Julie and Me and Michael Owen Makes Three, which is about a boy who can never quite decide if he is more obsessed with soccer or girls (at least, a certain girl).