Killer Plot

by Ian Bone

Tom Petkovic walks in the city while his father is working night shifts. He is a loner, drawn to look in at the family lives of others. But lately, more and more curtains have been closed, the windows dark — except for one, where a girl sits watching, night after night. In the park Tom hears a puzzling argument between two men. They seem to be shouting about the Aztecs. Then he sees one of them drag the other, limp and bleeding, into the back of a van. Tom writes about the scene, weaving it into a short story which he enters in a newspaper competition, hoping to give the police some clues. He is afraid for his life — and not without reason, as more and more children are afflicted with a mysterious illness. This well-plotted and satisfying story has enough twists to keep the most demanding reader enthralled.

Author Biography: Adelaide writer Ian Bone has an extensive, award-winning background in children's television, producing drama and situation comedy. He began writing Young Adult and children's literature while at the ABC and has had a number of books published. His previous Lothian Books are the critically acclaimed Fat Boy Saves World, CBC Notable Book, 1999, The Puppet, in the After Dark series, his humorous Takeaways novel, Spy Babies, and the powerful YA novel, Tin Soldiers.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

I am an author of books for young readers and young adults. I am Australian, and my books are published in Australia, the USA, the UK, Germany, Korea, Brazil and Finland.

My novel, The Song of an Innocent Bystander is being adapted into a major feature film. My children's book series, Philomena Wonderpen, has been bought by an International media company to be adapted for television.

I teach writing and I work as a video producer and e-learning developer in my spare time!

Reviews

[caitlin thomson · Rating 1 out of 5]

For me, it was a 1.5 star read. I rolled my eyes at least five times while reading this, it’s just so unrealistic and I hate when authors overuse exclamation marks (!) and that was definitely present in this book. The plot isn’t very interesting, and this kid just magically learned to fight? And what about the “evidence” that suggested he committed the crimes Beard committed? Overall, it was very unrealistic, so I gave it 1.5 stars.