I've just finished reading TWOC by Graham Joyce and what a great book it was. It's been advertised on a few sites as a childrens book but i'm 25 and even though the main character is a 16 year old boy still found it interesting and not as childish as I first thought it would be. In fact the only indication that the book may be aimed at younger readers is the back cover's reference to Graham Joyce as being "the author of ten adult novels." The title of the book first drew me in as I had no idea what TWOC stood for, which made me read about it and soon found out what the story was about. TWOC is an abbreviation for Taking Without Owners Consent and is usually applied in car theft, in other words 'joyriding'.
As mentioned above the main character is a 16 year old boy called Matt and because the book is written from his point of view we get to know exactly what he thinks about other characters he interacts with, which can sometimes be very funny. Matt has been involved in an horrific car accident in which his older brother, Jake, was killed and Jake's girlfriend was badly scarred. The story picks up a few years after the accident were Matt is frequently visited by Jake's ghost at his bedroom window, which givesa slightly spooky fell to the book. Matt tries to hide his emotions by becoming very defensive when anyone confronts him about his past. Matt gets sent on an outward bound weekend in order to deal with his past and finally find some closure. Joining him on this trip is 2 other children with equally colourful pasts. During the weekend they each have to make tough choices which will affect the rest of their lives. Every now and then the story will have flashbacks of the night of Matt's joyriding crash, which leads to an unexpected conclusion. All in all I thought this book was written very well and as it is through the eyes of a 16 year old can be quite comical at times. Great read, not very long and not very expensive if you know where to look.
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