ARC Review: Trash - Andy Mulligan

I've been picking up trash since I could crawl, and people always say 'maybe one day you'll find something special'.  Then one day I did.

Raphael Fernandez is fourteen years old and part of the slum that barely makes a living on the mountains of the dumpsite.  No education and no prospects: a lifetime of sifting through rubbish.

Then, out of the blue, he finds a key.

Keys open doors, and soon Raphael and his friends are just one step ahead of a desperate and dangerous police force.  The three boys hold the key to a deadly secret.  It leads to corruption, unimaginable wealth, and one man's mission to put right a terrible wrong.

Children can't be children if their lives are at stake...they have to be heros.

Trash releases in the UK on 2nd September 2010 and is a book I'd highly recommend you add to your wish list!

You can find out more about Andy Mulligan on the David Fickling Books website

Review:
Raphael and his friends have grown up in a slum town built amidst a rubbish dump, spending their days sorting through rubbish for anything that they can sell to get money for food.  They have all dreamed of finding something valuable but when Raphael finds a bag containing money, a key and a letter life nothing will ever be the same again.  With corrupt policemen looking for the bag they are now in great danger - it is very easy for street kids to disappear and there is no one who can stop it happening.  Can they solve the mystery before the police catch up with them?  And what could possibly be so important that the police are so desperate to find it?

The world we are taken into in Trash isn't a comfortable one - the descriptions of life at the rubbish dump was realistic and at times quite upsetting reading.  Especially when you think about the thousands of children throughout the world who do actually live like that.  However, Raphael and his friends Gardo & Jun-Jun (also known as Rat) aren't the kind of characters who sit around feeling sorry for themselves - life is tough but it's all they've ever known and they get on with things, finding the positive in things that many of us take for granted. 

I loved all three boys and thoroughly enjoyed the journey they took me on.  The mystery kept me interested and I found the descriptions fascinating.  I was so worried that they wouldn't all survive to tell their tale which just shows how invested I was in the book.  The narrative switches between multiple characters which I suppose could be confusing but I actually enjoyed the fact that you got to see so many sides to the story.  I though each of the voices were well written and it didn't take me long to work out who was speaking.

A great thriller with an ending that I absolutely loved and one I would recommend for boys and girls both young and old.  This is one of those stories that makes you question what is really important and will make you feel grateful for the things you have.  A thought provoking and fun read that will take you on an emotional roller coaster and I'm looking forward to reading more from Andy Mulligan.

Source: Thanks to RHCB for sending me this book to review

Other Reviews:
Chrissie's Corner
Wondrous Reads
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