It’s Manchester in the summer of 2011 and best friends Mac and Stick have a great adventure planned – a road trip to Spain, where they plan to drink, dance, turn 18 and, most importantly, escape Manchester. But the trip gets cancelled when Stick receives the devastating news that Mac has been fatally stabbed. From this early point in the book, we hear the story of a grief-stricken Stick who struggles with his feelings of anger, disbelief and hopelessness. One ray of light comes in the form of J, an adventurous and self-assured fellow teen who Stick quickly falls for. The riots, which feature at the end of the book, are almost irrelevant to the story. This is more a tale about grief, and though the main character might not be likeable at times, it is a well-researched and interesting snapshot story.
