The book starts off with Hilary, a troubled boy who has started at a new school after being kicked out of his previous ones. Hilary discovers a boy who lives by the sea called Finn, unknown to the authorities and the government. In Hilary’s eyes Finn is in a dream situation: he doesn’t go to school and lives alone. Hilary is intrigued by Finn and their relationship grows until one night Hilary stays at Finn's island: and when he returns trouble awaits.

Hilary is kept under lock and key at his school, St Oswald’s. He sees his chance when the Easter holiday is coming to spend good time with Finn, and with some crafty letter forging and a decent plan in his head Hilary goes to spend the holidays there. The pair explore the area and Finn shows Hilary the wonders of living alone, in solitude, by the sea. Finn seems reserved and when the time comes for Hilary to go back to school Finn seems unpleased but never actually says so.

Hilary, who normally misbehaves, begins to behave well because he knows that if he doesn’t he will never see Finn again. Hilary becomes desperate to see Finn again and to be in his company so he escapes from school to discover that Finn is very unwell. Unable to take him to hospital, as on paper he doesn’t exist, Hilary steals some medicine and tries to help him. When Hilary visits again he bathes Finn and begins to clean the soiled sheets but discovers that among the faeces and urine is blood. Unsure of what to Hilary calls an ambulance and disappears so as to avoid detection.

After roughing it in the school gym Hilary is woken by his pestering room mate and told to run away as he is in trouble. Hilary goes to Finn's house but is followed by Reese. A storm breaks out and, not being able to hear Hilary’s calls to go back, Reese wades in and is drowned by the current. In the morning after a traumatic night Hilary wakes up and goes to the hospital and Finn is booked in with his name. Things get serious and Hilary is accused of murder and a collection of other crimes. He is expelled from St Oswald’s and faces a trial for two years. He is cleared of all the charges and never sees Finn again. Hilary lives at the hut until it is permanently flooded by the sea. Time passes until Hilary is an old man and it turns out that he is telling this as a real-life story to his grandson.

Stepping back, I think that the imagery that you get from the book is good but it lacks any drive. When I picked this book up and read the first few chapters I though that it was going to be like the Famous Five, but I was surprised when it wasn’t. You couldn’t really relate to the book and make that magical connection which some books have. I thought that the plot had the potential to be really good but in reality it was lacklustre. Something that I was really disappointed with was the ending. The storyline became murky and ended without full explaining; it left too many doors open and too many questions unanswered. Despite what I have said the writing was of reasonable substance and the way the story was narrated was good. I feel that the twist was ill thought-out, a bit of an afterthought, and remained not fully explained.

Overall, balancing all these points I would give it 6/10 and wouldn’t recommend that you run out and buy this book.