Sam wakes in the middle of the night after hearing angry voices in the apartment above his Dad’s. Then he witnesses a man fall from above, and thud into the pavement. As the son of a crime reporter, he quickly records details on his phone, and is seen by the man leaning over the body. Now he could be his next victim.

Sam is staying at his estranged father’s place, after his mother finally relents, while he recovers from recent surgery. His father remains a mystery and strangely is not around for Sam to tell him what he saw. Alone, he feels threatened, waiting for the murderer to seek him out.

Adoration for his absent father has lead to an interest in uncovering crimes, so Sam tries to employ logical thinking to find out more about the fall – even though the body has mysteriously disappeared. His tactics reflect some of the ideas he often adds in his own crime comics, which feature a hero detective, modelled on his perceptions of his absent father.

“Suspense in spades! You will be gripped by Sam’s story.” Author, James Phelan.

How will things unfold for Sam – a young boy, deserted by his father in an apartment and facing a murderer’s imminent return? What would you do in Sam’s position? Tell the police (his father didn’t want to contact them…)? Run away? Go back home in a hurry?

Tristan Bancks is not only a writer, but has been an actor and also involved in film-making. His previous YA book, Two Wolves, won Honour Book in the 2015 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards and was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. Another mystery-crime story, which was cleverly introduced by this video:

Tristan is also keen on sharing his insights into the writing process and encouraging kids to read. There are lots of ideas at his website: http://www.tristanbancks.com/p/create.html and more on his YouTube channel like this one: