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Book review of the novel by Catherine Jinks
First, just to say that the book itself would be classed as 'teen fiction' and is not a particularly timeless book. It is also reasonably short, somewhere in the region of 200 pages, and is by a relatively obscure author.
The reason I bring the book up here is that I think it's subject matter is quite relavent to any internet chat forum or simply just modern day society.
The book details 12 year old Mercy Nova's search for 60s iconic actor Hector McKerrow as she starts her own Internet bulletin board. As such, the whole books takes the format of an Internet message board; and that includes several 'textspeak' style messages.
Where the book is innovative is the way that an innocent search to show an actor a girl's admiration gradually turns into a sort of manhunt to try and locate a man who does not want to be found.
Innocent enough young girls are posting and first but eventually there's people who come along and want to stake out places where Hector might be located, who utter obsceneties at those who disagree with this and believe Hector could be a criminal.
The site eventually gains more acclaim meaning that more people arrive and magazines start wanting to do features on the sight. At the same time as this publicity, Mercy wants to shut down the message board simply because it's become an invasion of privacy and she doesn't want legal action taken against her. In the end she disappears from the sight and it turns out something pretty awful has happened to her.
The book offers an insight into the age of the Internet and message boards, showing the cliched and not very insightful view that 'bad men' are around but also the perspective that all things can turn sour and meddling in people's lives has consequences.
It's not an amazing book by an stretch of the imagination but for a quick read with a little innovation it might be worth a rental. Some of the 'posts' are written with relevance to places and firms which becomes tedious, as do some of the Americanisms and brash users but it's still not bad.
First, just to say that the book itself would be classed as 'teen fiction' and is not a particularly timeless book. It is also reasonably short, somewhere in the region of 200 pages, and is by a relatively obscure author.
The reason I bring the book up here is that I think it's subject matter is quite relavent to any internet chat forum or simply just modern day society.
The book details 12 year old Mercy Nova's search for 60s iconic actor Hector McKerrow as she starts her own Internet bulletin board. As such, the whole books takes the format of an Internet message board; and that includes several 'textspeak' style messages.
Where the book is innovative is the way that an innocent search to show an actor a girl's admiration gradually turns into a sort of manhunt to try and locate a man who does not want to be found.
Innocent enough young girls are posting and first but eventually there's people who come along and want to stake out places where Hector might be located, who utter obsceneties at those who disagree with this and believe Hector could be a criminal.
The site eventually gains more acclaim meaning that more people arrive and magazines start wanting to do features on the sight. At the same time as this publicity, Mercy wants to shut down the message board simply because it's become an invasion of privacy and she doesn't want legal action taken against her. In the end she disappears from the sight and it turns out something pretty awful has happened to her.
The book offers an insight into the age of the Internet and message boards, showing the cliched and not very insightful view that 'bad men' are around but also the perspective that all things can turn sour and meddling in people's lives has consequences.
It's not an amazing book by an stretch of the imagination but for a quick read with a little innovation it might be worth a rental. Some of the 'posts' are written with relevance to places and firms which becomes tedious, as do some of the Americanisms and brash users but it's still not bad.
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Book review of the novel by Catherine Jinks
First, just to say that the book itself would be classed as 'teen fiction' and is not a particularly timeless book. It is also reasonably short, somewhere in the region of 200 pages, and is by a relatively obscure author.
The reason I bring the book up here is that I think it's subject matter is quite relavent to any internet chat forum or simply just modern day society.
The book details 12 year old Mercy Nova's search for 60s iconic actor Hector McKerrow as she starts her own Internet bulletin board. As such, the whole books takes the format of an Internet message board; and that includes several 'textspeak' style messages.
Where the book is innovative is the way that an innocent search to show an actor a girl's admiration gradually turns into a sort of manhunt to try and locate a man who does not want to be found.
Innocent enough young girls are posting and first but eventually there's people who come along and want to stake out places where Hector might be located, who utter obsceneties at those who disagree with this and believe Hector could be a criminal.
The site eventually gains more acclaim meaning that more people arrive and magazines start wanting to do features on the sight. At the same time as this publicity, Mercy wants to shut down the message board simply because it's become an invasion of privacy and she doesn't want legal action taken against her. In the end she disappears from the sight and it turns out something pretty awful has happened to her.
The book offers an insight into the age of the Internet and message boards, showing the cliched and not very insightful view that 'bad men' are around but also the perspective that all things can turn sour and meddling in people's lives has consequences.
It's not an amazing book by an stretch of the imagination but for a quick read with a little innovation it might be worth a rental. Some of the 'posts' are written with relevance to places and firms which becomes tedious, as do some of the Americanisms and brash users but it's still not bad.
First, just to say that the book itself would be classed as 'teen fiction' and is not a particularly timeless book. It is also reasonably short, somewhere in the region of 200 pages, and is by a relatively obscure author.
The reason I bring the book up here is that I think it's subject matter is quite relavent to any internet chat forum or simply just modern day society.
The book details 12 year old Mercy Nova's search for 60s iconic actor Hector McKerrow as she starts her own Internet bulletin board. As such, the whole books takes the format of an Internet message board; and that includes several 'textspeak' style messages.
Where the book is innovative is the way that an innocent search to show an actor a girl's admiration gradually turns into a sort of manhunt to try and locate a man who does not want to be found.
Innocent enough young girls are posting and first but eventually there's people who come along and want to stake out places where Hector might be located, who utter obsceneties at those who disagree with this and believe Hector could be a criminal.
The site eventually gains more acclaim meaning that more people arrive and magazines start wanting to do features on the sight. At the same time as this publicity, Mercy wants to shut down the message board simply because it's become an invasion of privacy and she doesn't want legal action taken against her. In the end she disappears from the sight and it turns out something pretty awful has happened to her.
The book offers an insight into the age of the Internet and message boards, showing the cliched and not very insightful view that 'bad men' are around but also the perspective that all things can turn sour and meddling in people's lives has consequences.
It's not an amazing book by an stretch of the imagination but for a quick read with a little innovation it might be worth a rental. Some of the 'posts' are written with relevance to places and firms which becomes tedious, as do some of the Americanisms and brash users but it's still not bad.