When Dashiel’s body is found dumped on an East London wasteland, his best friend Danny sets out to find the killer. But Danny finds interaction difficult and must keep his world small in order to survive. By day he lives in an abandoned swimming pool and fixes electrical devices to trade for supplies, but by night, alone, he hunts sharks a reckless search for dangerous men who prey on the … vulnerable.
A chance meeting with an American boy selling himself on the streets throws this lonely existence into disarray. Micky is troubled, fragile, and Danny feels a desperate need to protect him. Though from what, he doesn’t know. As Danny discovers more about Micky, he realises that what Micky needs saving from is the one thing Danny has no idea how to fight.
To save Micky, Danny must risk expanding his world and face something that scares him more than any shark ever could: trusting he will be accepted for who he is. If a freezing winter on the streets, a sadistic doctor, and three thousand miles don’t tear them apart first, that is.
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This is an atmospheric book about a young man who is living on the streets, hiding his scarred face behind his long hair, tracking down the users, the “sharks”, who circle the young men and women selling themselves on the London street scene. He’s hunting for the man who murdered a rent-boy friend of his, with no clues to go on except that Dashiel talked about “sharks” and was wary of certain men. When Danny lost Dashiel, he lost his one trusted positive connection to other people, the only person who knew him beyond the Loki scars and silence. The hunt is a way for him to keep on going.
Then he meets Micky, a femme American boy who’s barely surviving the London winter. Micky awakens both Danny’s protective instincts and his desire, but Danny’s only going to let one of those show. Taking care of Micky, and in him, finding a friend who doesn’t care about his scars or his past but who embraces who Danny is now, opens up Danny’s life.
Not that he thinks it can last. There’s still a killer out there, the sharks still circle and Micky may have to keep tricking to survive. Danny hopes that his safe squat and the food and money he can earn fixing broken and stolen phones will be enough for both of them. But even if he can protect Micky, there are still the other girls and boys he’s coming to know better, out getting into strange cars, and going off with strange men. And there’s still Dashiel, whose life and death haunt him. He can’t let go without knowing the truth.
Taking care of Micky isn’t easy either. Micky is fragile in ways he hides under his shiny persona. He’s not physically strong. Danny’s been managing fine on his own for a while, but there may come a time when he’s not enough. He may have to go looking for help, for both of them to survive.
I liked the path this book took to a happy ending. There are open threads. Not all the bad guys get what’s coming to them. Not all the lost boys and girls are saved off the street. But for Danny and Micky, after all the pain, it was sweet to see them find a way forward.
Suki Fleet is a relatively new author to me. This is a YA story set in London. It’s told from the POV of Danny, a young homeless man. He is looking for the person who murdered his best friend Dashiel.
Dashiel was a rent boy and was very wary of certain men he called ‘sharks’. In the course of his travels he meets Mickey, a young American who’s selling himself on the streets. He falls hard for Mickey. I love the way Danny’s spectrum issues are framed in this book. ‘He needs to keep his world small in order to survive’ is a perfect description of someone who becomes overwhelmed by input.
There’s a well drawn supporting cast, from Flower Lady, who gives Danny food and flowers and medical care; to Milo, the disabled army veteran who shares Danny’s derelict swimming pool home; to Diana, a cafe owner who helps young homeless people. They young people who are working the streets are well characterised and realistic. Oh and there are foxes…real life foxes. The contrast between them, surviving around the periphery of human society and Danny and his friends is not a co-incidence, obviously. This is an emotional story told in an almost stream-of-consciousness way from Danny’s POV. I really recommend it.