Summertime of the Dead by Gregory Hughes

Yukio’s two best friends are dead. Tormented and blackmailed by the Japanese mafia- the notorious yakuza- they have taken their own lives. Overcome by heartbreak and fury, Yukio is determined to avenge their deaths.

So begins a deadly mission that will take Yukio on a destructive path to the rotten core of Tokyo – and to his own dark heart. But once there, will he ever find his way back?

At the start of SotD, Yukio is a really nice guy. Studious, a respected kendo fighter, respectful to his slightly out-of-touch grandmother and slowly realising that he’s falling in love with one of his best friends. It’s when he starts acting on the latter realisation that the warning lights get ready to come on. A celebration sees them brought into the orbit of the relatives of the local yakuza boss, a meeting that changes the course of all of their lives.

Once the full extent of his grief sets in and he realises that he brought them into the yakuza’s sights, Yukio’s world de-stabilises. Ingrained tenets of honour, once a wholesome part of his kendo practice, press in on his conscience, pushing him towards a darker path, one marked with revenge and slicy death.

I have to admit that for a while, SotD began to annoy me. The yakuza came across as a bit slow and insubstantial, cardboard cutout villains, kind of like the faceless mass of the Crazy 88 from Kill Bill.  But you have to realise that this isn’t about them. It’s about Yukio, and his perception of them. And as the pressures of his self imposed mission to save Tokyo put his mind under increasing strain, you begin to realise something is seriously off kilter. Once it reaches tipping point, the story simply hurtles towards its shocking conclusion in a mad ‘just another couple of pages’ rush.

Fast, engaging and laced with an unexpected streak of darkness, SotD was a pleasant surprise, one that lingered for sometime after I closed the cover.

MFB would recommend this for readers ages 14 upwards.  The violence is there, it's not gratuitous but it pulls no punches, letting the reader decide for themselves what to make of Yukio's actions.

Unhooking the Moon by Gregory Hughes

Meet the Rat: A dancing, football-playing gangster-baiting ten-year-old. When she foresaw her father’s death, she picked up her football and decided to head for New York. Meet her older brother Bob: Protector of the Rat, but more often her follower, he is determined to find their uncle in America and discover a new life for them both. On their adventures across the flatlands of Winnipeg and through the exciting streets of New York, Bob and the Rat make friends with a hilarious con man and a famous rap star, and escape numerous dangers. But is their Uncle a rich business man, or is the word on the street, that he something more sinister, true? And will they ever find him?

It is my dream to fall in love with the characters I meet in new books. This was indeed the case with Unhooking the Moon by Gregory Hughes. Written from Bob's point of view, we are an audience to the craziness that is Rat. Yes, his sister is really called Rat. And she is really a bit unhinged, or watching her antics from Bob's perspective, we are almost convinced that she is crazy. What she really is, is unique and loveable and a bit strange, full of energy and a wisdom beyond her years. We meet the siblings as they go about their unusual lives on the outskirts of Winnipeg. They live with their dad, who is basically being paid by the State not to farm. Their mum had died a while ago and so the three of them live what could easily have been a very quiet life. Rat however makes sure that this will never happen. With Bob in tow, they ride around Winnipeg with their bicycles, creating all kinds of fuss. Rat knows everyone and everyone knows Rat, even the cops pull over to chat to her.

I wasn't very far into Unhooking the Moon when I realised how much I had already vested in these two characters. When their dad passes away and they decide to head to New York to find their long lost uncle, I was shouting at them to not be stupid, they were only kids, it was dangerous and if their uncle really was a drug dealer, well, dammit, they shouldn't be around him anyway.

Of course, Rat and Bob did not follow my shouting directions. They got as far as the Canadian border before they met up with Joey. Joey is obviously yet another person I wouldn't want the kids to meet up with. He smuggles things across the border but eventually agrees to help get both Rat and Bob across. And it turns out Joey is actually a pretty good guy, just a bit misguided. We all know someone like this, someone who likes to think big, outside the box, and only needs a good deal to come his way.

Joey leaves the kids in NY with directions on how to find a friend of his, who will give them somewhere to stay. The kids travel around the Bronx asking everyone they come across if they know their uncle. They meet some bizarre and lovely people along the way. As the story unfolds and things become more and more odd and probably surreal, with them hanging out with con-artists, thieves and up and coming rap stars, the two main characters' innocence is highlighted. So many bad things could have happened to them yet they have this knack of finding people as unique as they are to help them in their quest.

I sobbed like a little girl at the end of Unhooking the Moon. It really is one of my favourite books for 2010. The writing is skilled, the characters are sharp, the story is fantastical and wonderful and the bittersweet ending is pitched just perfect. I cannot praise Gregory Hughes enough - there is something truly magical about this debut and I think he strikes the right note with the overall story, making Rat one of my favourite literary characters of all time. I hope it goes on to win prizes and the acclaim it rightly deserves.