Do you believe a boy can fly? This is the mysterious question that attracted me to The Icarus Show. My first thoughts were that this book would be about myths and mystery, but it turned out to be more mystery than myth.
At the beginning of the book, Alex Meadows, who has recently started attending Lambourn Secondary School, receives an anonymous note which says:
A boy is going to fly! Do you believe it? Can you believe it? Will you be there???
The note also comes with a feather, which immediately makes Alex jump to conclusions about the type of flying the boy is going to do, although he instantly contradicts it in his mind, thinking the idea to be an insane one.
Alex becomes nervous, not knowing whether he’s supposed to believe it:
Did I believe a boy was going to fly? What if I did? Would somebody laugh? And what if I didn’t? Didn’t - or couldn’t. Would somebody call me useless?
Alex also becomes anxious to know if other people have received a note, and is worried about it being personal. He initially feels relieved when he sees another boy in his class, David Marsh, picking a feather just like his off the ground, but then he starts to feel uneasy. David has been nicknamed ‘Bogsy’ by Alan Tydman, the class bully, because unlike Alex, who does everything in his power to avoid the bullies, Bogsy stands up to them. Unfortunately this defiance does not curry favour with Alan and his cronies causing the rest of the class start to shun Bogsy as well. Alex is nervous that whoever is sending the notes is singling Bogsy and him out, saying they’re one of a kind. Birds of a feather!
Further cryptic notes and feathers follow, with references to ‘Icarus’, creating tension and suspense. Only in the final chapters is the flying boy’s terrible motive revealed.
I found Alex, from whose perspective the book is written, to be a rather insecure and passive character. He has several policies at the beginning of the book which include ‘Don’t react’, ‘Blend in’, and ‘Trust no one’, all of which, as Alex finally realises, have drawbacks. He adopts these policies to ‘protect his status’ but also to avoid getting bullied. In contrast, Bogsy is a ‘reactor’, as Alex puts it, and is not afraid to defy the bullies. One thing that the two boys have in common is that they both have no school friends. Eventually, with the help of Alex’s elderly and wise former neighbour Maisie, they start to develop an uneasy friendship. The description of the evolving relationships between all three makes for a fascinating and entertaining read.
This incredibly gripping book is not simply about a flying boy. It is about relationships, and how they can be fractured so easily. And not just relationships with other people, but the relationship you have with yourself.
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