Quarry

Michael lives with his sister and his dad and his forgetful grandfather, at the family scrap-car business, sited beneath a quarry and above a motorway.

Kennen quickly and skillfully builds an unsettling atmosphere, full of tension. Mum has moved out, grandfather wanders onto the hard shoulder, there’s a school bully, an angry father, a vicious dog – and Michael himself,  caring but hardened, searching for just how to grow up in this fragile environment.

Life is not kind for any of these characters, but then Michael starts receiving dares by text: to kill a chicken, to steal, and then worse.

The gritty reality of mental health and local poverty become the backdrop for this sinister teenage thriller. Kennen has a great feel for the complexities of people and society, and an ability to break boundaries. A page-turning read.