Car-Jacked (novel)

Last updated

Car-Jacked
Car-Jacked (novel).jpg
First edition cover
Author Ali Sparkes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre Novel
Publisher OUP Oxford
Publication date
19 May 2015
Pages304 pp

Car-Jacked is novel by British author Ali Sparkes. The story follows a 12-year-old child genius Jack Mattingly and his friendship with the hijacker of his parents' Toyota Prius. The book was shortlisted for a 2017 Red House Children's Book Award in the "Book For Older Readers" category, [1] [2] which was won by One . [3]

Contents

Plot

Twelve-year-old Jack Mattingly and his parents, Nigel and Leonie, are at a petrol station in Northumberland. Jack is left alone in the car while his parents go into the station, when the car is hi-jacked by the bank robber Ross, who believes it to be empty.

Upon discovering Jack, Ross throws him out, but returns to rescue him when he realises that the boy has asthma and needs his inhaler. As Jack goes to sleep, Ross receives a call from his crime boss James Shearer, who gives him an ultimatum to get hold of £100,000. Jack has overheard the conversation and starts to describe to Ross how the police will find him and arrest him.

Meanwhile, Jack's parents are discussing the disappearance with the police, and Leonie is wondering whether a ransom will be necessary. The police find out Ross' identity.

The car crashes into a ravine, with both Jack and Ross surviving. James Shearer sends a video message with a suffocating man to Ross' phone. Ross explains that the man is his younger brother, Stuart, who has stolen money from James Shearer. To save his brother, Ross needs to give £100,000 to Shearer for the return of his brother. It soon occurs to Ross that Jack can help him save Stuart.

A regional broadcast is made about how Jack is missing and Leonie goes hysterical about he didn't have his Omega 3 pills with him.

When Jack and Ross go over some peat bogs, Jack explains the damage they are doing to their environment and his life story with it. They find a house which they break into. Jack indulges himself in sugar, Weetabix and Tetley tea bags. Jack explains that his mum is very competitive and Ross compares her with his horrible mum, who swapped him for a paper ticket. Ross goes over how his mother abandoned him and was placed into care, where his brother got placed in care a few years later.

They go out to the side of the road to flag a truck down. They soon flag down a Polish man named Yanos, who agrees to give them a ride. A report comes in for a missing boy, and Jack hears his mum's hysterics.

Characters

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References

  1. "Children's Book Award 2017 - Federation of Children's Book Groups". www.fcbg.org.uk. Archived from the original on 1 March 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  2. "Morpurgo and Crossan compete for Children's Book Award | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  3. "Children's Book Award - Federation of Children's Book Groups". www.fcbg.org.uk. 25 February 2019.