NB 3.5 Stars!!

When I read about Feral Youth, I was so very keen to read it having lived in London during the time of the riots and having previously worked with London youth in my then local community - a very positive experience. As a fellow indie author I was also interested in Courtney's journey having famously "broken up" with her publisher to choose the self-publishing route, which she has done with considerable success. Courtney is now a spokesperson and authority on the London riots and the preceding issues that contributed to their cause. Based on all the above I was very keen to read this book.

It started strongly - I felt myself sitting in the disruptive classroom that Alisha found so suffocating and I found her voice and her motives convincing and of course, concerning. The book does much to create tension, to build conflict and to help the reader consider the possible varied contributing factors to the problems that many youth in Britain face and of course, the crimes they commit. Unfortunately while many parts of Alisha's story seemed authentic and moving, painful to read but important to note (like the absence of Alisha's parents and her subsequent need to crash wherever she can with little concern for her health, future or welfare) others seemed far-fetched and a little too "convenient". I also found the end of the story abrupt and a little adrift from what this book was really all about - i.e. the inexplicable anger, upset and burdens that affect young people in London and the lack of help or appropriate measures to reduce this self-perpetuating problem that has so many knock on effects for a community, the riots being just one of these.

I truly applaud Courtney for all she has achieved with Feral Youth, both on and off the pages of this book - and I urge an intrigued reader to buy and read this book - but I would have loved to read a version that stayed as raw as that opening classroom scene.