Triskellion by Will Peterson

Rating 4 out of 5

Fourteen year old twins Rachel and Adam are sent to live with their Grandmother in England for the summer holidays during their parents messy divorce. When they arrive in the sleepy village of Triskellion they soon discover they are not welcome. The village is deserted, they are greeted with hostility from locals and their own Grandmother is distant. As the danger mounts and people start to get hurt, the twins unravel the secrets of Triskellion. What is the mysterious Triskellion carved into the hill? What is the cloaked group of men in the woods doing? And who is the strange boy who hangs around the village?

Will Peterson is the pseudonym of Author Mark Billingham and television script writer Peter Cocks.

I have to say this book rocked. I could not put it down. I borrowed this from my mother after she highly recommended it. This is the first novel in this series and to my knowledge the first book the authors have collaborated on. There is a sequel due out this year called Triskellion the Burning which I will eagerly snap up (once mum has finished with it of course).

The plot was great. Straight away it pulled the reader in with the creepiness of the village upon the twins arrival. There was an easy flow to the story line and the experience of these two writers shone through. There was a lot of elements in this book, sci-fi, mystery, archaeology, history, thriller and as previously mentioned action. These elements were combined in a way that made sense and were not out of place. I loved the archaeology bits though and must confess to “googling” Triskellion after and reading up on the historical information around it.

“In the split second, screaming and rolling , tumbling headlong away from impact, she could have sworn that the Land Rover was being driven by a huge gray dog.”

I really liked is it was just a little different to the young adult fantasy adventure which seems to be everywhere at the moment (don’t get me wrong I love that stuff). It was a fresh change having more of an X-files kind of feel to it.

Adam and Rachel were very believable as fourteen year olds. I could believe the decisions they made and the actions they took and at no point thought “there is no way a fourteen year old would do that”. The Aussie character Laura was a great treat as she was not portrayed as a “typical” Aussie. I wont reveal who the baddie is but the baddie is well written and scary.

I would definitely recommend this to people who like Young Adult fiction. Probably not suitable to anyone under the age group of fourteen.

Extra Stuff
Sally906 also reviewed this book. Check out her review.