The fall ARC's continue to trickle in here, and the other day brought a package from Orca Books. They all looked good, but I settled on Safe House by James Heneghan.

Liam lives in the Catholic area of West Belfast, with his mum and dad. He spends a lot of his free time at the Youth Circus, an organization that was started to bring Catholic and Protestant kids together. Despite living in a bit of a war zone, life is pretty normal for Liam and his friends. Until one night, two men break into his house and kill his parents. And one of the men takes off his mask before realizing that Liam is there. Liam ends up in a police safe house, but it's not safe from the man with the mole who killed his mum and dad. So he heads out on his own, trying to avoid the killer he refers to as The Mole.

Although all ends well for Liam (I mean, as well as can be expected for a 12-year-old boy who witnessed his parents murder), this book is definitely not for the faint of heart. Any kids who are disturbed by violence should probably not be handed a copy of this one. That's not to say, though, that Heneghan uses violence for the sake of it. The story moves quickly, and Liam's experiences will definitely help kids realize the reality of what life has been like in Northern Ireland, during the time of the Troubles.

Safe House by James Heneghan
ISBN 155143640x
176 pages