Book description
Brook High is a great grey concrete ants' nest of a school. John
Malarkey is the new kid, thrown in at the deep end of Year 11. He's
the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Through what at first appears to be a random meeting, he helps a
girl called Mary Chase out of a tricky situation, but is subsequently
accused of stealing report cards to sell to students so they can write
their own bogus reports. He quickly realises it was all a set-up, and
that he's been used to take the fall. The teacher who accuses him of
the crime gives him one day to prove his innocence. Malarkey tries to
track down Mary Chase, but it's difficult in such a huge place. He
does, however, discover strange goings-on beneath the surface of the
normal school day. The more questions he asks the deeper he becomes
involved in the corrupt under-belly of the school. He's also noticed
the peculiar fact that so many kids at Brook wear Adidas trainers -
black with the three white stripes. He realises that these are the
badge of membership worn by those involved in the school's 'mafia'. He
discovers that the name of the organisation's leader is Freddie Cloth,
and Mary Chase turns out to be Cloth's girlfriend. Malarkey is soon
noticed for asking so many questions, and receives warnings and then
threats to back down. But, with time quickly running out for him, he
still has to prove his innocence. And the only way to do this is to
get to Freddie Cloth.
31-year-old Keith was born and brought up in Grimsby and knew from an
early age that he wanted to be a writer. When he received 0% for his
accountancy exams he decided to pursue his dream. He has since gone on
to win the Angus Book Award and the silver medal in the Smarties Prize.
He has twice been shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize and was
shortlisted for the Booktrust Teen Prize and the Scottish Arts Council
Book Award. Rave reviews about his writing have appeared in every
broadsheet. Keith was a judge for the Blue Peter Book Award, the
Guardian Fiction Prize and the Kathleen Fiedler Award. He has just been
asked to judge next year's Booktrust Teen Prize. He was recently
interviewed on Radio 4 with Jacqueline Wilson about writing for teens,
was featured on Live and Kicking, and his novel The Warehouse has been
optioned for television. Keith is now a full-time writer living in
Edinburgh.
