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Keith Mansfield
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Book
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Publisher | Quercus | ||
ISBN | 9781847247742 | ||
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Reviewer
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Jayne
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Synopsis
When thirteen-year-old Johnny's talking computer Kovac detects an extraterrestrial signal, his life is set to change for ever. Until then, stuck in his children's home in Castle Dudbury New Town, with the nasty cook Mr Wilkins watching his every move, football had been his only escape. But soon things start happening around him that Johnny doesn't understand: why is his mother, who is on life support in a hospital for the criminally insane, being guarded by sinister looking men? And why was a journalist murdered shortly after Johnny talked to him? When Johnny finds out he has a sister, he decides to run away to find her. His search for answers takes him farther from home than he could ever have imagined, on a spectacular journey through time and space. Along the way he visits new worlds, prehistoric Earth and the lost city of Atlantis before finally discovering the truth about his parents and who he really is.
Review
A brilliant book, combining fantasy and real places together in one book. I absolutely loved this book and would recommend it to young people and adults alike, although it is officially a children's book. You will understand why the spaceship is named after the Gherkin because the author looks out of every window in his home and can see this amazing structure that haunts the London skyline.
Johnny has lived in a childrens home, and like many kids dreams of being spirited away by aliens. He has an extraordinary ability to programme computors which in turn will lead him on a wonderful magical journey. I don't expect Johnny ever dreamed of finding his sister after they were separated as young children, but she is superb at getting them out of places where they should not have been!
This is Keith's first book which he's written superbly making it totally believeable. I tried to imagine the two "Gherkins" side by side as one metamorphosizes into the other so that the magic can work its wonders, it created quite a picture in my mind!
I adored the characters of Johny and his sister but not that of the cook at the children's home he was horrible. The idea of useing robots to support the crew on their missons is a wonderful way to pull it all together. I can also understand why the author has been part of the script writing teams of light entertainment as well as being a contributor to 'The Science of Spying' exhibition at London'Science Museum! I hope that we shall be seeing more of Keith Mansfield's work because he writes such a brilliant story.
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