'Revolver', reviewed by Michaela Hine

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Revolver

Reviewed by Michaela Hine

Set in 1910 in a cabin north of the Arctic Circle, Revolver is a gripping novel about a revolver, a boy and a vengeful visitor. Sig Andersson finds his father dead on the ice: he froze after falling through and failing to stay alive once out. He thinks this is the worst of his problems, until a stranger knocks at the door and turns his world upside down. Sig discovers that his father died with a secret, and that secret may cost him his life. Amidst the drama, the thing that keeps drawing his attention is the revolver, his father’s prized possession, sitting in the store room.

I actually really enjoyed this novel. I think that Marcus Sedgwick creates suspense very well.

‘Sig heard him do it.

He had reached the door and opened it.

He didn’t falter as he heard Wolff thumb the hammer back on the revolver. It clicked into place and Sig knew that it was held back from falling onto the primer only by a tiny sliver of metal.

He prayed, but he didn’t pray to God.’

At many times in the novel I wanted to read on: it gripped me from beginning to end. I think Sedgwick thought of a fantastic plot; it was very clever in the way that minor things pointed out at the beginning linked to the explanation at the end. I also liked the way that the theme of the book, a revolver, was a key part in the story. Sedgwick went into great detail about how a revolver works, and that detail was put into the boy’s thoughts at times of suspense (like in the above quotation, where Sig is thinking of the things that need to happen before a bullet can be fired). One interesting theory that Sedgwick drew up was the fact that when in life it looks as if there are only two ways out, there is always a third option, but it just takes a while to find it. This was shown in Sig’s character. When I thought that there was no hope in Sig finding the solution, he found a very clever option which was perfect (it didn’t have any side-effects to it!).

The only thing that bothered me was the length. I’m not saying it was bad being so short; the length and pace made it a really enjoyable read. I just think it could have been 10–20 pages longer because I felt that the author rushed a few places of the plot. But overall it was a really great read. I give it 8/10.