Age range: 12+ Maxine's parents have had to do perhaps the worst possible thing: confirm the identity of her brother Derek's body by the clothes he was wearing when he disappeared. So the brother who was missing is now officially dead. But then the worst possible thing really happens: Maxine receives a telephone call from somebody saying he is her brother. She can hardly believe her ears. Has Derek come back from the dead? In this pacy thriller the author manages to confront many issues including: how different people deal with grief/the very under-rated effect of severe bullying at school/sibling rivalry - all in a fast-paced compelling narrative voice.

 

There are 192 pages in this book. This book was published 2005 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC .

Catherine MacPhail is an award-winning author with an excellent reputation in schools and bookshops. Her other Barrington Stoke books are Picking on Percy, Sticks and Stones and A Kind of Magic. She lives in Greenock.