Raze is an
ordinary fourteen-year-old boy.
Ordinary except that his father is one of
Sydney’s major crime bosses and he is expected to follow in his dad’s footsteps
and become a member of the mafia.
Raze, however, has no intention of picking
crime as a career option. And given that run-ins with murderous rival crime syndicates
are an occupational hazard, the reader is placed firmly on Raze’s side.
The story opens
with Raze and his two friends spray painting art on the side of a building and
having to make a sudden run for it.
At this stage, the author perhaps tries too
hard with Raze’s voice as a streetwise teen, which left me cold. And when it is
later revealed that Raze attends a prestigious private school, it confirmed my
impression that his voice needed more work. But as the story progressed, the
language toned-down a little, which let me slide into the story more easily.
And I’m glad that I did, as Chatterton built the tension expertly. After Raze’s
dad breaks out of prison, Raze himself gets dragged into custody and is questioned
by some thug-like cops who could do with a personality transplant. Raze and his
family are then targeted by rival gangs, and the story builds from there.
Luckily for Raze, he has two good friends he can count on to help him slip a
series of increasingly nasty characters and gather more clues to stay ahead of
the growing list of people who want him dead.
Add arson,
shootings, bent cops, explosions and a budding romance into the mix, and you
have a compelling storyline that escalates into increasingly more harrowing
situations to keep the pages turning. My only niggle concerned the
fourteen-year-old Raze driving around the city, as I expected this to add to
his list of headaches-by-cops, but the author was kind to Raze and let him get
away with it.
Overall, I
could see fans of Young Adult thrillers devouring this. Fast and fun, with an
ingenious resolution and some character growth to boot, I recommend it.
Title: The Tell
Author: Martin Chatterton
Publisher: Puffin, $16.99
Publication
Date: 28
April 2020
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781760895945
For
ages: 12+
Type: Young Adult Fiction