Reminiscent of Cormier's 'I Am The Cheese', author Doug MacLeod takes the reader inside a psychiatric ward for teens. The protagonist, Colin, was traumatised when three years earlier his younger sister Briony was abducted from a national park while in his care.A lovable and often witty boy, Colin is deeply depressed, highly medicated, and undergoing therapy whilst trying to recover from his guilt and grief. One of his symptoms is that he sees life-size cockroaches (see cover) with whom he begins to converse. By colluding with two in particular - Maximew and Vendra - Colin believes he will be able to get his sister back. Compelling to the end, 'The Shiny Guys' is a thrilling novel.
I try an experiment. 'What if I told you that the shiny guys are real and not hallucinations? There really are beings from a parallel world and they are abducting humans. If I told you that, would you think I'm a liar?'
(p.128)
Miss Tarn ^__^
