He has just settled into his new life when somebody in the crew betrays him, and his past catches up with him – or rather, his mother’s past. He continues to live in the Domain, but falls in love with Reggie, the only female member of the teenage homeless kids. He has his stuff stolen by street kids early on, then after a few heroics ends up part of the crew that tried to steal from him. When Egan is in Auckland, he has to learn quickly how to live in a city, sleeping in the Domain. His actions are rational, and though this seems to be put down to living by the Code, it stretched my credulity a little. When she disappears, this is forced to change so quickly that Egan doesn’t seem to sit down and mourn. Egan’s mother is his entire world right up until he meets J.T., a hunter, near the time of her disappearance on Christmas Eve. The thing that I felt this book lacked a little was emotion. He’s been doing this well since his junior fiction-writing days, so it is no surprise to see this continue. He has been living with no running water, no internet, no electricity for his entire 15 years, so to say this is a cultural clash is putting it mildly.īrian Falkner really knows how to write action. With the help of a letter and money from the lock-box in their hut, he goes to find an Uncle in Auckland. When Moma goes missing near to Christmas during Egan’s 15th year, Egan is dismayed but determined to find her – he knows she would never voluntarily leave him alone. This Code forms the centre of all of the actions that Egan takes, and as he writes in his diary – the book is in diary format – he records the codes he had cause to reflect on that day. Moma has taken inspiration from a variety of philosophies – Christian, Confucian, Hindu and more, to instill in Egan a Code of rules to live by. Wild boy Egan has been raised by his mother, through her fear of his father, entirely in the Coromandel bush. This story follows some well-worn tropes, but is filled out with a compelling back-story and some brilliant set-pieces from the assured pen of Brian Falkner.

Aliens by Philippa Werry