The Penalty

Football, corruption and dark secrets collide in the thrilling sequel to the award-winning Keeper by Carnegie Medal-winning author Mal Peet.

In the second of the Paul Faustino novels by Carnegie Medal-winning author Mal Peet, teenage football prodigy El Brujito, “the Little Magician”, has vanished without a trace and Paul finds himself reluctantly drawn into the mystery. As the city of San Juan pulses to summer’s sluggish beat, Paul gets more than he bargained for as a story of corruption and murder unfolds, forcing him to confront a bitter history of slavery and the power of the occult.

Sequel to the bestselling Keeper, which won the Branford Boase Award and the Bronze Nestle Children’s Book Prize, reissued with a stunning new cover.
Longlisted for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize.
Mal Peet won the Carnegie Medal for Tamar.