The Supernaturalist

Colfer, Eoin

ISBN 10: 014180534X ISBN 13: 9780141805344

Publisher: Puffin, 2004

Synopsis

Fourteen-year-old Cosmo Hill longs to escape from the Clarissa Fayne Institute for Parentally Challenged Boys. When a rare chance to get away comes, he grabs it, but the attempt goes fatally wrong. He can feel his life force ebbing away, sucked out of him by a strange blue Parasite ... until a wisecracking gang of kids burst in, blast the creature and save him. They are the Supernaturalists, dedicated to ridding the world of theese life-sucking blue parasites. When they realise that Cosmo has the ability to see these blue creatures too, they enlist him as one of them. Their mission leads Cosmo into a world of high-level corruption, James Bond type technology, thrilling adventure and finally back to a place that Cosmo ever thought he'd have to return...the dreaded Clarissa Fayne.

About this title

Review:

Taking a break from his wildly successful Artemis Fowl series, Eoin Colfer delivers another punchy, superbly readable novel with all of the trademark qualities that have earned him so many fans. The Supernaturalist is inventive, dramatic, delicately witty and positively hip.

Satellite City, a vast twenty-five million people plus satellite-controlled metropolis in the third millennium, is home to Cosmo Hill. This 14-year-old orphan, a "no sponsor", inhabits--or rather "survives" in--an orphanage called the Clarissa Frayne Institute for Parentally Challenged Boys. There are only three ways out of such a miserable establishment: adoption, death or escape. The average life expectancy is 15 years. Cosmo has a year left. At best.

When his chance comes to escape during a transportation crash, Cosmo grabs it and flees into the unknown city. But he is tracked by a zealous guard and falls from a tall building. Accidentally, of course. As Cosmo's life force ebbs away, apparently sucked out by a strange blue parasite, he is rescued by a motley crew of kids. They're on a mission, and Cosmo is drafted in to help them. It's a whole new dangerous beginning...

Colfer has carved out a funky little genre all on his own: he writes exciting adventures that are funny and futuristic, page-turning and realistic. They're not fantasy, but his books are fantastical. They've got a bit of magic about them, without being overtly magical in the Harry Potter sense.

Artemis Fowl has been described as "Die Hard with fairies". The Supernaturalist is heralded as The Matrix meets Ghostbusters. Colfer has a golden touch at the moment and this is another priceless nugget. Suitable for ages 10 and over. --John McLay

Review:

Reads like The Matrix crossed with Oliver Twist -- The Times

This story is for anyone who enjoys the wilder side of technology and is Eoin Colfer’s best book yet -- Mail on Sunday

About this edition

• Publisher: Puffin
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 014180534X
• ISBN 13: 9780141805344
• Binding: Audio CD