The Defender   by Alan Gibbons Dolphin (Orion), 2004, 183 pages, ISBN 1842550985

How easy was it to get stuck into this book?
This book follows Ian, a young boy, and his father Peter, who has an unsavoury past behind him which is starting to catch him up and endanger both him and his son. There's loads of action in the book, and I think it should appeal to most readers. The book also gets into the storyline straight away.

Who are the main characters?
The main character in the book is Ian Moore, the son of Peter Moore, who is a single parent trying to escape from an awful past that he thought he'd left behind him. Although Ian doesn't know it at first his father is actually one of the four men behind a dastardly bank heist four years ago, and it turns out that he pocketed all the money that should have been split four ways. As a result the other three gang members, Hugh, Billy, and the ringleader, nicknamed 'Chubby' Barr are after him and are determined to get their share of the cash.

What's the storyline?
The story follows Ian as he is attacked and chased by the men, having no idea what is going on, and meets up with his Dad, but is then separated again, as the gang chase both father and son in attempt to gain an advantage. The story alternates between this and the build up to the bank raid many years before, which took place in Northern Island.

How's it written?
The book will probably appeal to middling to older readers in the cool-reads age range.

Other books by the same author that Tim knows about?
Chicken, Shadow of the Minotaur, The Edge, Caught in the Crossfire and quite a few more.

The overall verdict is
Really good stuff

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