Sig, a young boy, has never known another life than that on the ice north of the Arctic circle. Living with his father, stepmother and sister he leads an uncomplicated, untroubled life, their only excitement being when their father tells them tales of the revolver. So when his father, the head of the house and Sig’s adored role model is found dead on the ice, they are all left floundering. When a man pays a visit to their home, claiming some unsolved business with the dead man, Sig is out of his depth. He has no weapon against him, except the revolver.

This is a brilliantly told, gripping novel and Sedewick definitely captures the characters in few words. Sig has to cope on his own in a situation he’d never expected and the author creates suspense well: you find yourself feeling the tension. It’s gripping and the plot is told well and does not drag on which can become tedious. However nothing much actually happens in the overall plot and afterwards it seemed to me more like the end of a story than the complete thing.

Told as if it is in the present, with flashbacks from the past, makes the book more engaging as you carry on to find out more about the characters. Things in a book, normally discovered at the beginning, tend to reveal themselves more into the middle of the novel. This keeps you gripped for longer and is more exciting as it will flash back just as something suspenseful is about to happen. This cliff-hanger leaves you wanting to know more.

‘So, here’s my first question. Where is the gold your father stole from me?’

This extract is the last line of a chapter: the next describes a memory that these words bring to Sig. This makes you instantly eager to read to the next chapter and find out what is going on in the present.

The story was never predictable but at the same time it wasn’t at all complicated. The story creates a dilemma for the main character. He has been brought up by two conflicting morals, and at the time when all matters he has to choose which parent’s wishes to follow.

The author uses lots of absorbing phrases which have to be thought about for a while. The book opens with ... ’even the dead tell stories’, definitely a gripping opening line, as you want to know the reasons behind it. I like the author’s style, which is to pull you constantly into the story.

‘If. The smallest word, which raises the biggest questions’

This is another classic example of his engaging style of writing.

Overall I thought this was brilliantly told and from beginning to end lured you in with fantastic use of language and phrases. I thought maybe it was a bit short and rushed in some places, but this didn’t matter really, because he managed to tell the story well.

I would give this an 8/10.