Everything about this deliciously improbable adventure is almost completely daft – and that’s the fun of it all. When Charlie sets up his walkie-talkie in the staff room he doesn’t hear gossip about the pupils as he had expected. Instead, he finds the teachers are speaking in a foreign language that no one has ever heard of. Charlie is kidnapped trying to find out more and when Jim sets out to find him – his sister ‘borrows’ a motorbike and driving him up to Skye - he too is caught up in the disturbing rituals of an unusual group. Jim tells the madcap story which also includes a wry and light-hearted view of family life.
An explosive, highly charged, and hilarious middle-grade adventure from Mark Haddon, acclaimed author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
From the moment that Jim and his best friend, Charlie, bug the staff room and overhear two of their teachers speaking to each other in a secret language, they know there's an adventure on its way.
But what does "spudvetch" actually mean, and why do Mr. Kidd's eyes flicker with fluorescent blue light when Charlie says it to him? Perhaps Kidd and Pearce are bank robbers talking in code. Perhaps they're spies. Perhaps they are aliens. Whatever it is, Jimbo and Charlie are determined to find out.
There really is an adventure on its way. A nuclear-powered, one-hundred-ton adventure with reclining seats and a buffet car. And as it gathers speed and begins to spin out of control, it can only end one way . . . with a BOOM!
Mark Haddon is an author, illustrator and screenwriter who has written sixteen books, both for adults and children, and has won two BAFTAS. He has won numerous awards for his bestselling novel The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, including Whitbread Book of The Year. He lives in Oxford.
