Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick
Don't let the size of Marcus Sedgwick's book fool you, its comparative slimness packs a punch every bit as powerful as the Colt that gives the story its title. Set in the frozen wastes of Giron in a cabin north of the Arctic Circle in 1910 with flashbacks to ten years earlier, Revolver seizes the reader from the very first line, and doesn't relax its grip until the story's end.
The book tells the tale of Sig Andersson, a teenager alone in the cabin that he shares with his sister, Anna, his father Einar and his fathers second wife, Nadja. Alone, that is except for the frozen corpse of his father, who has fallen through the ice on his way back from the nearest town. Sig is waiting for Anna and Nadja to return with help, but when there's a knock at the door of this remote cabin, miles from any other signs of civilisation, it isn't help that is waiting on the other side, but trouble.
The description of the stranger is chilling, Sedgewick says he is a giant, with a face, not stroked into creation by Gods loving hand, but battered into shape by the Devils hammer.
The writing is sparse and masterful, and the story grips compulsively, once you pick this one up, you'll be unable to put it down. Through the clever use of flashbacks Sig's parents values are imparted to the reader, and their differing viewpoints on life are woven together in the story's climax, when Sig must make a decision that will change his life forever.
Sally Clements
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