When I Was Joe

Brilliant thriller debut from exciting new author!

When Ty witnesses the knife murder of another boy he identifies some very dangerous people and the police put him and his mother into hiding in a witness protection scheme. Over the coming months, Ty becomes Joe, is given a new look and starts at a new school. To his surprise, he finds he is attracting the attention of the girls in his class, and the boys find his need to conceal his real identity cool – being Joe is not so bad. His ability as a runner is spotted and he starts training under a college student. Somehow Joe keeps drawing attention to himself despite his efforts to remain anonymous. Then his beloved grandmother back in London is badly injured in an attack designed to flush Ty out of hiding and demonstrates a relentless determination to silence him. This wonderfully gripping and intelligent novel movingly depicts Ty/Joe’s confusing sense of identity in extreme danger – a remarkable debut from a great new writing talent.