Just read it. Bloody good storytelling. I can see why this book won awards (including Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Older Readers in 2006).

This YA story shows, in excruciating detail, the agony of a family pulverised by a fatal car accident. Every teenage male should be made to read it before getting their licence.

I don’t say that lightly. I wrote off 2.5 cars before I was 21 due to a mix of bad luck, inexperience and overconfidence. My mates and I were very much part of a rural car culture that was cocky in the extreme. Luckily, most of us were non-drinkers. As JC Burke shows, adding alcohol to testosterone, a sense of immortality and little world experience makes for a very dangerous cocktail.