Blade: Playing Dead

nobody Knows The City Like Blade. You Have To When You're On Your Own, When You Can't Trust Anyone, When You've Got A Past You Need To Hide. Blade Is Practically Invisible, Perfectly Alone, Living Only By His Wits—just The Way He Likes It. Until The Day A Chance Encounter Sends His World Crashing Down Around Him And He Finds Himself On The Run Again. Yet He's Not Alone This Time. Suddenly He's Got Becky And Her Daughter, Jaz, Weighing Him Down. But Is He Running From His Past Or From Becky's? Blade Knows He Should Drop These Two, But He Can't. With People Depending On Him, He'll Need To Find A Way To Outsmart The Thugs Who Are Hot On Both Of Their Heels, Lurking Around Every Corner.

The Suspense Is Palpable In Carnegie-medal Winner Tim Bowler's New Thriller.

publishers Weekly

bowler Delivers An Intense, Gripping Novel That Introduces Blade, A 14-year-old British Boy With A Mysterious Past, Who Is Living On The Streets. After Blade Suffers A Beating By A Local Gang, An Offer Of Help From A Good Samaritan Goes Awry And He Finds Himself On The Run From A Group Of Mysterious Armed Men. Along The Way, He Ends Up Protecting A Toddler Named Jaz And The Girl's Teen Mother, Becky (she, In Turn, Inspires Memories Of Blade's Long-dead Love). There's Little Joy In Blade's World: Characters Steal, Cheat, Abuse Drugs And Kill, And To Blade, Little Of This Bleakness Is Out Of The Ordinary (the First Chapter Reveals That He's Lived This Way Since At Least The Age Of Seven). Bowler (frozen Fire) Imbues Blade With A Voice That Throws Around Slang (porker, Gobbo, Bigeyes) Without Needing To Stop To Explain It, And His Reader-directed Narration (i Don't Trust You One Little Bit. Why Should I?) Carries The Novel, Even As The Plot Frustratingly Ends With A Cliffhanger. Readers Who Like Their Thrillers Brutally Realistic Will Find Much To Enjoy. Ages 14-up. (may)