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Carnage
Fifteen teens are trapped in a zoo where the animals have mysteriously gotten loose. Smarter and stronger than they should be, they’re working together to kill humans.
It’s going to be carnage
‘One of the UK’s most promising writers’
Edinburgh Evening News
‘One of the UK’s best new talents’
Lovereading.co.uk
‘Jan Henderson writes the kind of thrillers that make you miss your stop on the bus’ - The Times Educational Supplement
‘Jan Henderson has written some incredible books… One of my favourite authors’ - Sharon Rooney (star of My Mad Fat Diary and Dumbo)
‘If there were more books like yours out there maybe boys would be reading more’ - Charlie Higson (Young James Bond and The Enemy series)
It’s going to be carnage
‘One of the UK’s most promising writers’
Edinburgh Evening News
‘One of the UK’s best new talents’
Lovereading.co.uk
‘Jan Henderson writes the kind of thrillers that make you miss your stop on the bus’ - The Times Educational Supplement
‘Jan Henderson has written some incredible books… One of my favourite authors’ - Sharon Rooney (star of My Mad Fat Diary and Dumbo)
‘If there were more books like yours out there maybe boys would be reading more’ - Charlie Higson (Young James Bond and The Enemy series)
336 pages, Paperback
Published September 5, 2020
5 people want to read
About the author
Jan-Andrew Henderson
62 books34 followers‘One of the UK’s most promising writers’ - Edinburgh Evening News
‘One of the UK’s best talents’ - Lovereading.co.uk
‘Jan Henderson writes the kind of thrillers that make you miss your stop on the bus’
- Times Educational Supplement
‘A moving, funny and original writer’ - The Austin Chronicle
‘Jan Henderson has written some incredible books… One of my favourite authors’
- Sharon Rooney (My Mad Fat Diary. The Electrical Life of Louis Wain. Barbie)
‘If there were more books like yours out there, maybe people would be reading more’
- Charlie Higson (Young James Bond and The Enemy series)
Jan-Andrew Henderson (J.A. Henderson) is the author of 40 children’s, teen, YA and adult fiction and non-fiction books - published in the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and Europe by Oxford University Press, Collins, Hardcourt Press, Amberley Books, Oetinger Publishing, Mainstream Books, Black and White Publishers, Mlada Fontana, Black Hart and Floris Books. He has been shortlisted for sixteen literary awards in the UK and Australia and won the Doncaster Book Prize, The Aurealis Award and the Royal Mail Award - Britain’s biggest children’s book prize.
He runs The Green Light Literary Breakdown Service - specialising in developmental and copy editing, is a professional member of the Institute of Professional Editors and teaches online writing courses for the Romance Writers of Australia Academy, Infostack, Skill Bundles and Authors Crib. He has appeared at numerous writers festivals and gives talks and given workshops for children and adults in conjunction with Literature Live, Authors Abroad, Nexus Arts and Speakers Ink.
Other roles include industry assessor and mentor for the Queensland Writers Centre, mentor for the Horror Writers Association, Secretary for the Romance Writers of Australia, ambassador for Australia Reads, peer/grant assessor for the Australian Council for The Arts, convenor for the Aurealis Awards, judge for the Bram Stoker Awards and the Robert N Stephenson Prize. He has been Writer in Residence for organisations as disparate as Ipswich Kindergarten and The Catholic School, Townsville.
He features in many anthologies, as a contributor and editor and has written several plays - performed as far apart as New York State, Texas, Leeds and the Edinburgh International Festival.
He is also the founder of Black Hart Entertainment which runs the famous City of the Dead Ghost Tours in Edinburgh.
‘One of the UK’s best talents’ - Lovereading.co.uk
‘Jan Henderson writes the kind of thrillers that make you miss your stop on the bus’
- Times Educational Supplement
‘A moving, funny and original writer’ - The Austin Chronicle
‘Jan Henderson has written some incredible books… One of my favourite authors’
- Sharon Rooney (My Mad Fat Diary. The Electrical Life of Louis Wain. Barbie)
‘If there were more books like yours out there, maybe people would be reading more’
- Charlie Higson (Young James Bond and The Enemy series)
Jan-Andrew Henderson (J.A. Henderson) is the author of 40 children’s, teen, YA and adult fiction and non-fiction books - published in the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and Europe by Oxford University Press, Collins, Hardcourt Press, Amberley Books, Oetinger Publishing, Mainstream Books, Black and White Publishers, Mlada Fontana, Black Hart and Floris Books. He has been shortlisted for sixteen literary awards in the UK and Australia and won the Doncaster Book Prize, The Aurealis Award and the Royal Mail Award - Britain’s biggest children’s book prize.
He runs The Green Light Literary Breakdown Service - specialising in developmental and copy editing, is a professional member of the Institute of Professional Editors and teaches online writing courses for the Romance Writers of Australia Academy, Infostack, Skill Bundles and Authors Crib. He has appeared at numerous writers festivals and gives talks and given workshops for children and adults in conjunction with Literature Live, Authors Abroad, Nexus Arts and Speakers Ink.
Other roles include industry assessor and mentor for the Queensland Writers Centre, mentor for the Horror Writers Association, Secretary for the Romance Writers of Australia, ambassador for Australia Reads, peer/grant assessor for the Australian Council for The Arts, convenor for the Aurealis Awards, judge for the Bram Stoker Awards and the Robert N Stephenson Prize. He has been Writer in Residence for organisations as disparate as Ipswich Kindergarten and The Catholic School, Townsville.
He features in many anthologies, as a contributor and editor and has written several plays - performed as far apart as New York State, Texas, Leeds and the Edinburgh International Festival.
He is also the founder of Black Hart Entertainment which runs the famous City of the Dead Ghost Tours in Edinburgh.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 8, 2024
Henderson is so ridiculously good. From reading Crash when I was about 12, his work still retains that rapid fire pacing and one liners you can't help but snort at.
In the first 20 pages, you learn it's an apocalyptic scenario, with most characters fated to die. Having a huge host of characters sometimes makes it difficult to bond with them - and Henderson smashes it out of the park, with the glorious Scottish duo having some of the best bits of characterisation I've seen in YA.
I devoured this in three sittings, with my very stoic lip wobbling the same number of times. How dare you, and thanks, do it again.
In the first 20 pages, you learn it's an apocalyptic scenario, with most characters fated to die. Having a huge host of characters sometimes makes it difficult to bond with them - and Henderson smashes it out of the park, with the glorious Scottish duo having some of the best bits of characterisation I've seen in YA.
I devoured this in three sittings, with my very stoic lip wobbling the same number of times. How dare you, and thanks, do it again.
May 9, 2021
A really fun and inventive novel with a shocking opener which will leave audiences hooked to read on, if not running for cover. ‘Carnage’ tells the story of a group of teenagers who find themselves trapped in a zoo where all of the animals have broken loose and seem to be working together to pick off the humans inside. The author’s writing style recalls to mind of the works of other authors writing in the genre such as Michael Grant and Charlie Higson, making the book a real nostalgia trip for me personally. Both the story’s greatest strength and its biggest downfall is its dialogue; much of the dialogue is bursting with humour and wit, but can sometimes feel somewhat inauthentic to how young teens would speak, particularly when it comes to the representation of AAVE. Aside from that it is a fun, fast-paced tale which I would have absolutely devoured back when I was a member of the target audience. Would definitely recommend.
September 16, 2020
What if animals suddenly turned against humans, uniting together to hunt and kill people?
A meteor landing near a zoo contaminating the animals with radiation and mutating them to be bigger, stronger and aggressive; first killing the zoo personnel, then zoo visitors.
Exhibiting new found intelligence and cleverness led by an ape, lions, giraffes, antelope, rhinos, hyenas and others chase and hunt a group of teenagers there for an award ceremony.
A gripping thriller with suspense as the teenagers try to evade, allude and escape these creatures as best they can.
A meteor landing near a zoo contaminating the animals with radiation and mutating them to be bigger, stronger and aggressive; first killing the zoo personnel, then zoo visitors.
Exhibiting new found intelligence and cleverness led by an ape, lions, giraffes, antelope, rhinos, hyenas and others chase and hunt a group of teenagers there for an award ceremony.
A gripping thriller with suspense as the teenagers try to evade, allude and escape these creatures as best they can.
October 26, 2020
In true Henderson style I devoured this book in three sittings (the downside of being an adult and needing to do life stuff). From the beginning to the end, Carnage entertained and pulled me in. I love the way J.A. Henderson gives you all the information, which somehow seems completely unrelated until his reveals where you slap yourself on the forehead and think, well of course, that makes entire sense. It’s a brilliant read, with laugh out loud moments, brilliant well rounded characters, and a story you need to know the end to. Highly recommend this book and the author.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews