Rico is a boy with a dream. He wants to change the world, beat injustice, get rid of corruption. Yet because of his friends, his age, his home and his looks he is constantly being picked up by the police for things he hasn't done. The only thing that keeps him sane is his love for computers – fixing them, building them, playing on them. So when a mysterious guy named Speech meets him at an anti-violence protest and asks him to build a website for a friend's birthday, he doesn't think twice about accepting. More and more seemingly harmless tasks follow. He hacks into the government's speed camera website, for example, to check if Speech's car has been flashed so he doesn't worry about it.
Then one day the unthinkable happens, as Rico's kind heart and hate of violence get him into serious trouble. On the run, Rico has been framed with the perfect evidence, and there isn't a sign of Speech. Can Rico prove his innocence before he is imprisoned for life?
This isn't the sort of book I'd normally pick up – there's no magic, no dragons, no super-advanced society trying to wipe us out. But it doesn't need that. This simple, topical, endearing tale almost tells itself. It also raises lots of interesting moral issues – was Rico wrong to do what he did? What would you have done in his situation? Do you think he was right in his final decision? It was the most thought-provoking book I've read in a long time, which is nice since so much teen fiction is the same, perhaps turning us into the blankly staring zombies it writes about! It really made me challenge my own pre-conceptions on right and wrong.
Rico is the ideal hero for it too. He isn't perfect – but nor are we. He wants to change the world – what's wrong with that? Sure he's a little naive but I certainly didn't see the disaster looming before he did. He's the classic imperfect hero of children's literature, wronged by the authorities as he tries to make a difference and he learns many important lessons as the story progresses. This makes him very easy to empathise with and makes the story ring all the more true.
Despite being short the characters are very well developed, with their own personalities and ideas. There are lots of contrasts between them too, which was interesting. The fast pace, along with Benjamin Zephaniah's unique, very-to-the-point style of writing make this story very attention grabbing and powerful.
All in all, it's very hard to describe Terror Kid without giving too much away. Suffice to say, you really won't regret reading this, as it's a book you'll never forget!
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
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