Sporting with the seniors and getting your head dunked in the toilet is mere child’s play compared to the damage Jockey, returning from jail, can do. Alex knows he has it coming after he helped his father call the police when Jockey tried to rob their store. In the process, Jockey severely hurt a policeman, thus extending his incarceration. When Jockey shows up pretending to be a “brother” and challenging Alex to suck it up and be a man by spending the night out “rough,” the underlying current of danger is irresistible. Throughout the night, the action continues building suspense as the reader realizes long before Alex does that his trust of Jockey is misplaced and his naiveté is bringing him closer to irreversible harm. Alex has one true friend, Marta, whose religious leanings and uncoolness at school keep them apart in public, but he turns to her when things get tough, compounding the danger. Originally published in Australia, this is one of those novels with huge male appeal that also has psychological underpinnings satisfying to a wide range of readers. (Fiction. YA)
