Gun Dog — Peter Lancett

Set on one of Britain's tough and often brutal council estates, Gun Dog is a powerful story about the struggle to succeed in a place where the lawless operate without fear and the good are consistently failed by the agencies of law and order. Stevie Davies dreams of escaping from this misery by leaving to go to university. But all that changes when he is forced to hide an automatic pistol by a local teenage thug. Intoxicated by the apparent power the gun gives him in the local community, he is drawn down a perilous path, and his future hangs in the balance. Can the gun give him the freedom he's been dreaming of? Or will it throw away the key for good? Gun Dog is a real page-turner. The fast-moving, character-focused narrative delves right to the heart of a tougher side of life. Gritty, honest, hard-hitting, and often shocking, it is packed with drama and emotion from one page to the next. Gun Dog is part of the Cutting Edge series: fast-paced, quick reads for teens and young adults looking for fiction which chimes with their perspective on life.