Amazon.com Review
Moo Nelson is fat--pale white blubbery fat--and he gets rained on every day at school for it. The jokes, the insults, the snide laughter, the beatings--all of it he calls the RAIN. Moo has learned to "umbrellarize" it, to walk through it with his eyes down. Because after school there is always the bridge--a place where he can where he can watch the cars go by on the highway and find some shelter from the RAIN.
That is until the day he sees two speeding cars, a crash, a scuffle, and a murder on the bridge. Moo is the only witness, and his story is not what the police want to hear. If he tells the truth, Keith Vine, a notorious bad guy, will go free, and Detective Inspector Callan will retaliate by sending Moo's father to jail for welfare fraud. If he lies, Vine will take violent revenge. The secret pressures mount on Moo from all sides--money and gifts, threats and beatings--until he chooses to kiss the RAIN, to take action against his tormentors.
Kevin Brooks again shows the brilliance that won him acclaim for Martyn Pig and Lucas. The story emerges through a murky stream of consciousness; Moo's working-class British voice swirls past the boulders of plot events. Moo is befuddled, hurting, and enormously touching as he struggles toward a dimly perceived Right Thing to Do, and misses the mark badly. This third YA novel from Kevin Brooks' is evocative of the best of PBS' Mystery! Series. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up--Michael "Moo" Nelson is an uncouth, overweight, working-class 15-year-old who escapes the daily harassment--the "rain" as he calls it--he faces at school by riding his bike to a bridge, climbing to a familiar vantage point, and losing himself in the Zen of watching the endless flow of traffic. His life is changed when he witnesses a murder from the bridge. The alleged killer is a notoriously ruthless organized-crime figure and Michael is the only one who knows that the man is innocent of this particular crime, but is being framed by the police, who are eager to see him behind bars. Michael quickly becomes the recipient of bribes and threats from parties on both sides of the high-profile case, and his knowledge unwittingly translates to power at school where his former tormentors, aware of his potent connections, are suddenly reluctant to mess with him. Ultimately, he faces a dilemma: he can tell the truth and allow a nefarious thug to remain free, in which case the police have made it clear they'll pursue welfare-fraud charges against the teen's freeloading father, or he can lie and send the gang boss to prison, in which case he seems bound to be targeted for retribution. Brooks abruptly finishes the novel with Moo considering a third, violent alternative--one that, while risky and rash, would clearly demonstrate his growth as a character. Unfortunately, readers are left to guess how things turn out, and that is likely to infuriate those who've hung with Moo till the end.
--Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MI Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
