A 14 year-old female is left unconscious after she gets run over, leaving several unanswered questions: Why didn't she see the lorry? Why was she running? Why was she barefoot? At the hospital the staff start to suspect that she may have been sexually assaulted. Trainee Police Officer Holly Blades is determined to find out the truth and bring someone to justice. The Trainee Police Officer programme aims to help the police engage with younger members of the community by enabling those who are 16 years-old and who show a certain level of aptitude to enrol as officers on a fast track route to joining the service. Not everyone is convinced by the scheme and so for Holly to succeed in her quest she must put together the pieces of the case whilst overcoming the negativity and scepticism of those above her.
The way this novel is put together works really well. I found that I thought I'd figured out how this novel would fit together and then was pleasantly surprised to see that I wasn't quite right. The extra plot threads that aren't tied up work well as they help to give the novel a more realistic feel instead of that happily ever after feel that novels often have when everything is tied up neatly or when they're not written for adults. The details Ould provides about the police, such as the phrases used during radio contact, also help to create a feel of realism. It's clear that he's done his research and has a real feel for what he is writing about. The novel is very easy to read and the chapters are a comfortable length. The explicit language is only used when it helps to create the characters using it and not just for the sake of it like some other novels I have read. The characters are realistic and for a teen novel this book is a breath of fresh air as there is no love interest involving the main character. My only criticism with the characters is that there isn't much depth to the main ones as you only find out surface details, but perhaps this is something that will be built on in future novels. The content is more suitable for older readers but again this is used well and attempts to bring some of the realities of youth crime into teenage writing without being sensationalist but without attempting to mollycoddle the reader either.
Overall I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading future instalments in the series. It's great to have a crime novel that is written specifically for teenagers especially as the closest novel I can think of is The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson but that still contains a fantasy element and so isn't really a crime novel.
I give it 7/10 :)
Title: Street Duty: Knock Down
Author: Chris Ould
Publisher: Usborne
Teenage Fiction (15+ as recommended by Usborne due to explicit language and content)
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