The Boy Who Dared - R Coverdale

 

FROM THE BACK PAGE

 A fun camping trip turns dangerous when James, Greg and Ahmed stumble across a dark secret in the beautiful Welsh wilderness. Separated on a mountainside in the dead of night, the boys must face their greatest fears as they are hunted by a ruthless gang. Can they reunite in time to save a hundred starving dogs – and themselves?

MY THOUGHTS

 As a youngster growing up I was a big fan of Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Secret Seven books and Malcolm Saville;s Lone Pine Club. These stories of kids my age having adventures were a big part, I think, of why I loved reading so much. Coverdale's The Boy Who Dared could easily stand with those books. 

 This is the second in the series (preceded by The Boy Who Couldn't) but as someone who hasn't read the first yet (but trust me, I'm reading it soon) I can safely say it works as a stand-alone story.

 Right then, onto the story. James, Greg and Ahmed are off on a camping trip with James's dad. It's all going to be a fun time learning outdoorsy type things and is going great until Dad goes off to the village to get supplies and the lads, as you would expect, boys being boys and all, set out to do some exploring on their own. One of the boys has telepathic skils which alert him to dogs been kept in poor conditions on a nearby farm so they set off to see what is going on. It doesn't take long until they are knee deep in trouble and from there the pace picks up to such as kept reading deep into the night (I finished it in two sittings). There are scrapes and cliff-hangers galore.

 The story is told from the point of view of each character which adds variety as each has their own unique voice.

 I mentioned earlier the books I grew up with and there is good reason for that. I recently went back and dipped into some of these books and although they are aimed at readers 40+ years younger than me they still hold up well as enjoyable reads. The Boy Who Dared is aimed at 9-12 year old readers but is still a good read for older readers too (I'm 55 and loved it)

 I have no problem awarding this a good 5/5* and am looking forward to more in the series.

                                                    R Coverdale  author photo

 Thanks very much to Anne Cater and Random Things Tours for inviting me onto the BlogTour and for arranging a review copy for me. All views are my own.