Interest age: 14+
Reading age: 7+

Jon for Short

(1 reviews)

Author: Malorie Blackman

Publisher: Barrington Stoke

Jon (or is it Joe?) lies alone and amnesiac in his hospital bed, plagued by a disturbing dream of a torch, a knife, and a murder in the dark. Why is he being kept alone, and how did he get here? Why do the nurses seem to hate him so much? And why do they keep taking his limbs away?

This is a slim but well-realised book: Vladimir Stankovic’s dark illustrations are a perfect partner to Malorie Blackman’s tight prose, and, like all the best horror stories, the reader’s sympathies are elicited only to be betrayed by a growing sense that things are not quite as they seemed at first. This book has been written specifically with dyslexic young people in mind, and is both short and simply told. This makes it no less effective, however, and it would be enjoyed (if that’s the right word) by any younger teenager with a taste for the macabre. A chilling tale with a nasty twist.