Sink into a book. (Titanic 2020 - Colin Bateman)

Member Name: Lunah_C

Product:	Titanic 2020 - Colin Bateman
Date:	29/09/08 (105 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Story, short chapters.

Disadvantages: Hard to put down.

***The Author***

Colin Bateman was born In Northern Ireland 1962. Colin himself says he never shone at school, however always had a love of reading. He also loved writing science fiction stories. At 15 his dad took him to the editor of the local newspaper and after writing a 300 word essay on why he wanted to be a reporter he was offered a job. His headmaster advised against taking the job and staying on at school. He ignored this advice and took a one year shorthand and typing course before taking up the job as reporter.
In his spare time he wrote and in 1995 he had his first book 'Divorcing Jack' published. He has also written scripts for television and was a chief writer for Murphy's Law starring James Nesbitt.


***The Story***

It's the year 2020 and Jimmy Armstrong has been on a school trip to see the newly built Titanic. Unfortunately for Jimmy he never makes it onto the ship, so he decides to return later in the evening for a private viewing. Things don't quite go to plan though and he ends up as a stowaway on the ship.
Jimmy is a typical teenage lad who finds himself in a number of scrapes but this has to be his biggest ever.
Jimmy ends up working alongside the ship owners' daughter Claire and their love/hate relationship winds it way throughout the book.
Jimmy also encounters some other key characters such as Scoop the editor of the Titanic Times, the onboard newspaper, First Officer Jeffers, and Pedroza the Chef.
Some he gets on with better than others, and some just want his blood.

As if this wasn't enough just after the ship sets sail an incurable disease starts infecting the worldwide population, and soon makes its way on to the Titanic. This leads to more trouble on board and shore visits are a whole new experience. Will anyone survive?


***My Views***
The story starts well getting the reader involved from the start. The chapters are fairly short so ideal for a quick read, though it is hard to put this book down and almost impossible to just read one chapter at a time.
Although I picked this book up in the children section of my local library, it is geared much more towards teenagers since in places the reading can be quite gory with very descriptive passages.
The ending sadly comes quite abruptly with many unanswered questions. I have noticed though that a sequel has recently been published (June 2008) entitled Titanic 2020: Cannibal City so hopefully this will fill in the gaps.
Altogether a well written book and one that helps move a keen young reader on from Enid Blyton tale to a Stephen King Novel.

I have passed this book on to my daughter and already recommended it to friends and relatives.

Summary: A great read for older children. Gripping enough for adults.