The Stone cold mystery

The special book “Stone cold” is written by the talented Robert Swindells. He is a fulltime writer and the winner of many awards with his books for young adults. He also won a carnegie medal for his book “Stone cold”. This book is about a young boy who had a horrible home situation and ran away to a city with possibilities and chances, London. Well, it turned out different than expected.

This wonderful story takes place in the cold streets of Londen.  Link has to survive the freezing nights and the long days. Link is nice, considerate but also a little bit naive. He did not expect that living on the streets would be so hard and heavy. He grew up in Bradford with his mom, father and sister Carole. Carole was the only one who tried to help him. His father left the family when Link was only fourteen. His stepfather tried hopelessly to replace their father. Vince was horrible and Link’s mother stayed quiet. The situation got out of control and Link went to london by train. This was the beginning of a interesting story told by links his perspective and a mysterious diary written by Shelter. Shelter was an ex army officer who was inclined to “clean the streets”.

The book has a sad mood with some happy fragments. For example the moment when Link sees Gail. He was so impressed by her beauty and when Link met Ginger. You find out that Link was really looking up to Ginger because he had so much more experience.  In my opinion ,the ending was really thrilling.

Robert Swindells writes in a frustrating way. I, as reader know so a lot more than Link does. I am of the opinion that he writes so smart because he build the tension with the combination of two narrators.  I do believe that it also makes it more easy to read and understand. I’m pretty confident that the goal of Robert was to give another view on the homeless teens. He wants to make clear that all the youngsters who live on the streets didn’t do something wrong. There were for them no options left. I think that that makes the story more realistic, because there are at the moment million young adults without a home. To my way of thinking has the writer made Shelter a creepy character. From my point of view are the details like laughing and his cat ,who he actually hates, very scary. And the fact that a man who looks completely normal actually is insane person is makes me shiver. You’d have to be crazy not to agree that the beginning was really indistinct. I was confused by the fact that the diary and the thoughts were from two persons, not only one. I realized in the middle of the book that it were two perspectives. But the strength of the book is absolutely that he gives a perfect view of teenagers who are living on the streets. I think it is are very interesting and instructive book. You should read it!

My impression of stone cold is positive because the book is exciting. The spooky Shelter and his mysterious diary are really scary. And I like scary books more than novels. The book is easy, realistic , intresting but also a little bit frustrating sometimes. But the most important is the view Swindell’s gives of the lifes of homeless teens. That is why i recommend the book.

I enjoyed the book and i hope you will do the same.