This novel by Cameron Nunn, tells the story of two young men who both attend Hamilton College in Sydney.

David Pollifrone is a year 11 student at Redmont (the boarding school).  David does what is expected and does it well. He likes being first in his studies and prides himself in being in the 1^st XV rugby team. All the boys at Hamilton College know, you don’t see anythi

ng, you don’t hear anything and you certainly don’t say anything. Life for David seems to be pretty easy… Until Simon Turner shows up and shares a room with David. Simon is on an Indigenous scholarship and is the grandson of a rugby legend.

Simon is expected to fill his grandfather`s boots on the rugby field, but this is not the case. Turner would rather study, rugby just isn’t h
When Simon and David are paired together to do a History assignment on the history of the school, they decide to research past scholarship winners. They find a missing name in the archives and become curious as to why it has disappeared. Along the way they discover hidden truths and forgotten memories. When the headmaster finds out about the assignment he giveis thing. Turner experiences bullying by students and finds himself targeted by teachers. Simon doesn’t quite understand the pecking order and how things work around Redmont.

s the boys ‘a little chat’ and directs them to choose another task. Headmaster Pollifrone doesn’t want to risk drawing that attention to him while Turner takes this as an opportunity to find out more.

When I read this book I found myself picturing Hamilton College as being Joeys. The way he describes the school just seems a lot like Joeys. The Author uses great descriptive language and has many great twists that kept me wanting to read more. I like the way the author makes the two characters (David & Simon) have sort of contradicting personalities. Although we see at the very end that all the events David had experienced, changes his personality, for better or worse we really don’t know for sure.

Another reason the book appealed to me was that it has some pretty sweet fight scenes and the language used is very graphic. Again I like how the author puts some twists in the story to make it a thriller in a way. ‘Shadows in the Mirror’ is a fairly short book but it has a great story to tell and uses some great themes and ideas.

Reviewed by: Yirrbi Jaffer-Williams

Available in BLRC: F NUN

Ice station by Matthew Reilly is the finest example of a full-on 100% action packed book. Aimed at a young adult audience, it is full of action and certainly hit the mark. This book is about a station in Antarctica that is being used for research. When things go wrong a military group go to stabilize it, but full of traitors, it creates many problems. This leads to a series of amazing tantalizing events set out in a fashion such that the reader never gets bored. I even found myself tired after reading several pages. The action never subsides, and the expend-ability of the characters forms a doubt and fear in the reader’s mind. Will the character live? This uncertainty created by such action and incredibly structured events keeps anyone like a magnet.

Reviewed by: David Mulherin

Available in BLRC: F REI

‘The Old Man and the Sea’ by Ernest Hemingway is a vivid tale of a sage and experienced fisherman named Santiago who is detached from his contemporaries, although truly at heart with the sea. After an unlucky spell of 84 days without catching fish, Manolin, his young apprentice, is forbidden to sail with the old man as Manolin’s parents wish for him to work with more successful fishermen. After sighting a big fish which seems to be a marlin, the old man attempts this grand catch. The old man finds that bearing the great tension of the line drifts him out further and further into the sea. After hard days and sleepless nights Santiago persists to conquer the largest catch of his life despite his pain, struggles, and the ever-changing tides to his predicament. The short, strongly metaphorical and rich tale is definitely worth reading.

Reviewed by Dominic Kocx

Available in BLRC: F HEM

 “The Knife that Killed Me” is an extremely interesting text as it invokes the reader’s thoughts into the mind of the main character Paul Vanderman and the school thug Roth. The author, McGowan is not afraid to address touchy topics such as striving to belong and the cruelty of school children and in this novel he follows a teenager, Paul Varderman, as he tries to fit in with a group in his school.

At the beginning of the book, he is a loner, looking into the groups from the outside. A series of events in which he stands up for members of a group known as “The Freaks” lead to him becoming included by them. “The Freaks” are different from the other groups as they do not live under the rule of the school thug, Roth.

As Paul becomes more involved with “The Freaks”, he also begins to become influenced by Roth. Roth uses Paul as a messenger between himself and a rival school and gives him a knife. The relationship between the two schools develops, with Roth leading the way to war between them. Paul struggles to fulfil his feelings of loyalty to both the Freaks and Roth.

Reviewed by: Curtis Witt

Available in BLRC: F MCG

When Zak Darke’s parents die in an unexplained mass murder, he is left alone in the world. That is until he is sought out by a mysterious man leading to Zak becoming Agent 21. What happened to the 20 agents before him he’ll never know? What he does know is that his life is about to change forever. Chris Ryan gives the reader an amazing suspenseful feeling. If you like being on the edge of your seat then you should read  Agent 21

Reviewed by Nicholas Rupolo

Available in BLRC: F RYA