The Boy Who Lied

Description

Fourteen-year-old Ed Clayton is a liar. It started when his dad went to prison and now he can't seem to stop. When Ed's younger brother, Sam, goes missing one day under his supervision, nobody believes him when he says he can't remember what happened. Things begin to go very wrong for Ed's family when his mum loses her job and they have to start using a food bank. Ditched even by his best friend, Ed is on his own trying find out what's happened to Sam, until he meets Fallon, a new neighbour who's willing to help him unravel the mystery. The two stumble on a secret even Ed could never have imagined. But nobody will ever believe a liar . . . The Boy Who Lied is a sharp, warm and thought-provoking mystery from Kim Slater, the multi award-winning author of Smart and A Seven Letter Word.

Kim Slater honed her storytelling skills as a child, writing macabre tales specially designed to scare her younger brother! Taking her literary inspiration from everyday life, Kim's debut novel, Smart, has won more than ten regional prizes and been shortlisted for over twenty regional and national awards, including the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and the Federation of Children's Book Groups Prize. Smart was also longlisted for the 2015 CILIP Carnegie Medal. Kim lives in Nottingham with her husband and has one grown-up daughter. The Boy Who Lied is Kim's fourth novel for Macmillan Children's Books.

"This story combines a genuinely gripping thriller with an exploration of poverty in contemporary Britain. Slater covers a lot - from the awful behaviour of sensationalist tabloid reporters through the shame of attending food banks to Ed's reaction to the traumatic events that have brought his family low. But she never neglects the tension of the mystery narrative. . . . I read The Boy Who Lied in one rather breathless sitting. It's a fast-paced mystery with plenty of twists and turns but it's also a heartfelt and powerful piece of social commentary. . . . Recommended." --Bookbag