War of the Wind

About this book

Fourteen-year-old Max is struggling. Two years ago an accident left him deaf and it’s tough trying to adjust. Learning sign language takes time and the frustration is compounded by having to spend much of his time in his school’s additional support unit, instead of with his former ‘gang’. Meanwhile at home, his dad is uncommunicative and his irritating baby sister Sally gets all the attention. Max is permanently on the brink of letting his anger and bitterness boil over. So when members of the local community start discussing a controversial new wind turbine project coming to their remote Scottish island, he’s initially far too distracted by his own problems to take any interest. But then some odd things start happening. Local wildlife is dying and people are behaving increasingly strangely. Could the sinister goings-on be connected to the spooky-looking turbines?

War of the Wind is a gripping story with a satisfyingly eerie undertone from page one. The suspense escalates with the discovery of a dark government experiment that uses sound waves to control people’s behaviour (hence Max being one of the few not to be affected). Running alongside the tense drama, we see Max’s equally powerful internal journey as his relationships with deafness and the other ‘Zoomers’ (the initially derogatory term he uses for those in the unit) slowly transform. Strong friendships form and deep-rooted attitudes change. The depiction of deaf and disabled characters is convincing, honest and nuanced, and Max’s fury with his hearing aids is almost tangible. Themes of loss, dyslexia and bullying are also woven neatly in.

A page-turning adventure with a great cast of characters, powerful food for thought around disability language and preconceptions, plus a timely environmental theme.