Diedericks-Hugo, Carina Thomas@aqua.net
Pretoria, South Africa: LAPA Uitgewers, 2003. 128 p. ISBN 0-7993-3223-2. Ages 12-15.
Summary
This is one title in a series of adventure novels featuring Thomas, who is at the beginning of his high school career. He is an average student, but he tends to get involved in potentially dangerous situations. In this story, Thomas notices that something is wrong with his friend Lukas. His concern for his friend lands him in trouble with a gang of abalone poachers. It turns out that Thomas’s father, an advocate, is part of a group that is trying to prove the guilt of the abalone poaching gang. As a result, the entire family is threatened by the gang. The family, accompanied by several of Thomas’s close friends, goes to a remote coastal house for a long weekend. Beneath the floor of his room, Thomas discovers a secret passage that leads to a cave, which turns out to be the place where the abalone poachers hide their catch until they can smuggle it inland. Thomas and his friends are involved in pinning down the gangsters and proving the guilt of the leader.
Commentary
The story is written in a language that will appeal to the age group for which it is intended. There could be a little more explanation for some of the events, but the overall effect is convincing.
Fiction for Young Adults South Africa LAPA Publishers | |    |
