Concentr8 (Short-Listed For "the Bookseller" Ya Book Prize)

Description: In a future London, Concentr8 is a prescription drug intended to help kids with ADD. Soon every troubled teen is on it. It makes sense, doesn't it? Keep the undesirable elements in line. Keep people like us safe from people like them. What's good for society is good for everyone. Troy, Femi, Lee, Karen and Blaze have been taking Concentr8 as long as they can remember. They're not exactly a gang, but Blaze is their leader, and Troy has always been his quiet, watchful sidekick - the only one Blaze really trusts. They're not looking for trouble, but one hot summer day, when riots break out across the city, they find it. What makes five kids pick a man seemingly at random - a nobody, he works in the housing department, doesn't even have a good phone - hold a knife to his side, take him to a warehouse and chain him to a radiator? They've got a hostage, but don't really know what they want, or why they've done it. And across the course of five tense days, with a journalist, a floppy-haired mayor, a police negotiator, and the sinister face of the pharmaceutical industry, they - and we - begin to understand why ... This is a book about what how we label children. It's about how kids get lost and failed by the system. It's about how politicians manipulate them. Gripping and controversial reading for fans of Malorie Blackman and Patrick Ness.

Prizes: Short-listed for "The Bookseller" YA Book Prize 2016.

Author Biography: William Sutcliffe was born in London in 1971. He is the author of the international bestseller Are You Experienced?; The Love Hexagon; New Boy; Bad Influence, Whatever Makes You Happy and, most recently, The Wall. His work has been translated into more than twenty languages. He lives in Edinburgh.

A powerful multi-character drama set in a very recognisable near-future London - where a drug called Concentr8 is prescribed to teens to keep society safe. Perfect for readers of Malorie Blackman or Patrick Ness