Boy X (30 page)

‘Orders, sir?' the team leader asked.

Thorn opened his eye and looked at him. ‘Take me home. I have a job to finish.'

 

Acknowledgements

Writing a novel can be an adventure in its own right. There are some moments when the waters are calm, and the jungle is quiet. But other times, the jungle closes in, and the river rises, racing through rocky canyons, cascading over treacherous waterfalls. At times like those, every adventurer needs someone to throw them a rope or offer them a hand, so I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge the special people who accompanied Ash and me on this adventure.

I want to say a huge thank you to the brilliant Barry Cunningham for his advice and support, and for really loving stories. I feel proud to be a Chicken House author. Thanks to Rachel Leyshon who spent so much time patiently listening to my crazy ideas for Isla Negra, offered the right advice, and steered me in the right direction. Also to Rachel Hickman and Elinor Bagenal for so much hard work in making the book look fantastic and sending it out into the world. Thanks to my agent Carolyn for her honesty and guidance, to Bella for her priceless editorial support, and to Laura (for her patience!), Jazz, Kesia, Sarah and Esther for being awesome back at Chicken House HQ.

And, of course, I couldn't embark on any adventure in Danworld without the lifeline of my first readers – my wife, my daughter and my son. Without them, I would have washed over that waterfall a long time ago.

And you. The reader. I want to thank you for losing yourself in my world.

ALSO BY DAN SMITH

BIG GAME by DAN SMITH

A
rmed only with a bow and arrow, thirteen-year-old Oskari reluctantly sets out into the freezing wilderness of his Finnish homeland as part of an ancient trial of manhood. But instead of finding animals to hunt, he stumbles on an escape pod from a burning aeroplane: Air Force One.

Terrorists have shot down the President of the United States, and they're on their way to capture him. Even if the boy and the world's most powerful man can evade them, how can they possibly survive in the wild?

 

‘Everything about this book is excellent. The story is fast-paced, extremely well written and is packed with unrelenting action.'

BOOK TRUST

Paperback, ISBN 978-1-909489-94-3, £6.99 •  ebook, ISBN 978-1-909489-95-0, £6.99

MY FRIEND THE ENEMY by DAN SMITH

1941. It's wartime and when a German plane crashes in flames near Peter's home, he rushes over hoping to find something exciting to keep.

But what he finds instead is an injured young airman. He needs help, but can either of them trust the enemy?

 

‘. . . an exciting, thought-provoking book.'

THE BOOKSELLER

 

 

Paperback, ISBN 978-1-908435-81-1, £6.99 •  ebook, ISBN 978-1-909489-06-6, £6.99

MY BROTHER'S SECRET by DAN SMITH

T
welve-year-old Karl is a good German boy. He wants his country to win the war – after all, his father has gone away to fight. But when tragedy strikes and his older brother Stefan gets into trouble, he begins to lose his faith in Hitler. Before long, he's caught up in a deadly rebellion.

 

‘Rich in detail, this is a thought-provoking story.'

JULIA ECCLESHARE

 

 

Paperback, ISBN 978-1-909489-03-5, £6.99 •  ebook, ISBN 978-1-909489-54-7, £6.99

Text © Dan Smith 2016

First paperback edition published in Great Britain in 2016
This electronic edition published in 2016
Chicken House
2 Palmer Street
Frome, Somerset BA11 1DS
United Kingdom
www.chickenhousebooks.com

Dan Smith has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic, mechanical or otherwise, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express prior written permission of the publisher.

Produced in the UK by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

Cover and interior design by Steve Wells

British Library Cataloguing in Publication data available.

PB ISBN 978-1-909489-04-2
eISBN 978-1-910655-52-8