Hunter hasn't been having too good a time of late: he's stuck in a tiny town-cum-retirement village, his dad has disappeared, the jewfish have left the bay, and he still has to clean the amenities block at his mum's caravan park every morning--no wonder everyone calls him misery-guts. While the constant, and sometimes quite technical, fishing talk won't be to everyone's taste, the fishing-obsessed Hunter is a terrific lead character in Gwynne's third young adult novel. Gwynne's disparate cast of characters includes a cross-dressing fisherman, a triathlete policeman, a bearded fossil-hunter and a schnitzel-loving hairdresser whose bikie-attended nuptials form the background for the hilarious and touching final scene. The themes we have come to expect in Australian young adult writing--first love, family and mateship--are present and are explored in a fresh and original way, but this novel, without the heavier themes of violence and racism evoked in Gwynne's previous novels, will allow booksellers to introduce Gwynne to slightly younger boys who may be looking for new challenges after Gleitzman and Winton.

Eliza Metcalfe is AB&P's editorial assistant.

C. 2003 Thorpe-Bowker and contributors

Tags: phillip gwynne