The Knife That Killed Me by Anthony McGowan

'The knife that killed me wasn't a special knife at all. It didn't have any runes on it. It's handle wasn't made of ivory or rhino horn, but cheap black plastic. It was a kitchen knife from Woolworths, and it's blade wobbled like a loose tooth. But it did the job'.

Paul Vanderman never set out to carry a knife. It doesn't suit him at all. But when the school tyrant Roth plucks him from anonymity and commands him to pocket one, Paul is unable to refuse. Roth's hypnotic influence over the entire school drags them all into an all out war with the neighbouring school, Temple Moor. In a world where adults are either absent or powerless, any resistance to Roth is going to have to come from a fellow pupil.

Step up, Shane. King of the alternative kids, Shane is a refreshing leader. Self-possessive and calm, he does his best to repair the damage Roth causes to the school. But his friendship isn't enough to save Paul from Roth's dark attraction. And when Shane is hospitalised it seems there's nothing to stop events hurtling towards Paul's apparent death in a knife fight.

I read this book with a teen book group. They're aged 13 and I was initially worried about their reactions to the knife scenes. Roth is a nasty piece of work and Anthony McGowan describes his twisted behaviour in graphic detail. The humiliations he dreams up for his enemies are downright horrific. Paul describes these with a helpless horror, compounding the sense that the events of the book have been predetermined.

Adults are noticeably either absent or useless in The Knife That Killed Me. Paul's parents barely surface from the TV and the teachers in the novel are either pathetic or terrifying. It's a bleak depiction of school life from Anthony McGowan. Hope is offered by Shane, and the well-meaning teacher Mr Boyle, but they can't combat Paul's secret fear that Roth's aggression lives on in himself.

Despite the building tension, The Knife That Killed Me seemed to falter at the very last hurdle- the ending. The general consensus from the teens was that it was cheesy and an anti-climax. It just didn't seem to sit with the rest of the book which, aside from the passages looking ahead to Paul's death, had been straightforward and authentic. Nevertheless, an intelligent and gripping drama on a topic that is too often ignored in fiction.