‘Dear Mr Avery,
I am looking for WP. Can you help me?
Sincerely,
SL, 111 Barnstaple Road, Shipcott, Somerset.’

He was only twelve, he reasoned; he couldn’t be expected to get stuff like writing to serial killers right first time.

Belinda Bauer

Blacklands is the début novel by Belinda Bauer, and as first books go you cant do better then having it become an International Bestseller, and winning the The Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger award for Best Crime Novel of the Year.

But what about the story itself?The story is from the point of twelve year old Steven, who lives with his younger brother, downtrodden mother, and obsessed grandmother in an old mouldy, damp house. He’s bulled in school, and only has one friend (Who really isn’t that good a friend at the start of the book). Basically his life sucks!

The reason he ascribes to this suck-age is that his uncle disappeared as a very young child, believed to be the victim of a  serial child molester, and burred somewhere on the Exeter moors. Every day his Grandmother just sits looking out the window hoping for the child’s return.

So he decides to get closure for his family by finding the body of his uncle (Who’s room is untouched, with even a half built lego space station on the floor). To this end Steven spends all his out of school time, digging on the moor’s in the hope of finding the body. That is until he hits on the great idea of writing to the imprisoned Avery and ask him where the bodies burred.

This leads to a psychological cat and mouse game played out in coded letters between the twelve year old child and the child molester. This game ends when Avery finds out the age of Steven and stages a break out to go get one last thrill.

That is the basic outline of the book, without giving away any of the plot details. I have to say that its well written, you find yourself drawn into the story at a fast rate, even to the point of creating emotional attachments to the characters. You find yourself hating some of the honest characters, feeling sorry for one of the inmates at the prison, and then having your belief in human nature returned and rebuilt at the end of the book.

Hell any book that gives you a tug of the heart strings over someone knitting a pair of socks is one you know is well written, and defiantly worth a read. I will say its the first book I have read in years that got me actually involved and invested in what happens to the people in the story. And I am looking forward to reading Belinda’s next book.