Martyn Pig by Kevin Brooks

Martyn Pig by Kevin Brooks, first published by The Chicken House, UK, 2002.

What attracted me to this book was, I admit, the cover. It's a nice cheery yellow, but it was the words that really did it: "Did I hate him? Of course I did. But I never meant to kill him." I just had to read it and find out who he killed and why...

The first thing I want to say is that there are no spoilers in this review. I know that I am often guilty of that, but not with this book. 

The second thing I want to say is: read this book. It is both dark and funny, it is a good murder mystery, and it is what I call 'a true book'. By this I mean that the characters seem real and that the book hits at the heart of being human. I don't give many books this tag.

Thirdly, this is the kind of book that you keep thinking about when you have finished it. If that isn't enough for you, I don't know what is.


Fourthly, I am going to find all of Kevin Brooks novels and read the lot.

What's it about? Martyn Pig is a teenager who lives with his alcoholic dad. He has a crush on the girl next door, Alex. He hates his aunt. And that is ALL I am going to say. Read it!