Candy - Tapa dura

It was the girl, of course. The girl from the station. The girl with the smile and the skin and the eyes. Joe is hooked from the moment he sees Candy. What is it that catches his eye? Is it her hair, her smile, or just the way she's standing? When they chat over coffee there's an instant attraction, but can love really be this sweet? Joe takes Candy deep into his soul. He thinks about her night and day, and even his music throbs to the sound of her name. But Candy also takes him somewhere else - to her world: a bitter place of drugs, violence and hopelessness. As the dark truth emerges, Joe must decide if love and hope - and Candy - are worth fighting for. And, find a way to escape the danger that loiters on every street corner.

Kevin Brooks lives in Manningtree, Essex. He has won the Branford Boase Award and been shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Book Trust Teenage book of the Year.