The novel tells the story of comic book addict Adam, an eighteen year old with learning difficulties who loves Freddie Mercury and Queen. He works in a well know fast food outlet and lives with his sister Jude, a plucky gay, student. As the story unfolds the whereabouts of their wayward parents emerges from the memories of Adam.

After a head injury sustained saving a small child, Adam begins to believe he has super human powers that can be used to save the galaxy, or maybe just Falkirk, from evil. He sees lights around people heads and can tell what mood they are in by their colour and intensity and he can communicate with machines.

This simple tale of good and evil told through Adam’s eyes, also explores his relationship with his sister and his behaviour towards her girlfriend.

The story opens innocently enough but, after around fifty pages, unsettling incidents creep into the humorous antics. It begins with Adam’s deliberate squelching of a mouse, whose life Adam likens to his own and progresses to getting in with the ‘big boys’. When Adam begins to hang around with the Hallglen Annimalz, the local gang, one wonders if this is the first step toward evil. Then, just when the reader is left feeling that Adam’s story may not end well, enter the good fairy in the guise of Bonnie, a cystic fibrosis (or sick stick fibre osis) sufferer. She starts work at the fast food place and befriends Adam. Phew, take a sigh of relief, maybe things will work out for him after all. It is here that the novel builds in strength. Back and forth the reader experiences the pull of good and evil on superhero Adam. There is a dark under current that trails the second half of the book that is impossible to shake off.

The insight into the young simple mind is ingenious and expertly captured by the author. The language and expressions of the boy are phonetically comical. Unfortunately this language has occasion to trip up and fall back into the author’s own voice. For example there are few teenager with or without learning difficulties who would describe halted conversation as having dots after them… and there are a few groaning witticisms that could have been taken out at a final edit.

The powerful character of Jude compels the reader to tussle along with her frustrations and difficult decisions. Although the character does not demand sympathy, one cannot help rooting for her.

The novel displays one of the best uses of the Scots modern colloquial language I have encountered since ‘Morven Caller’. It gives us a language that has evolved with Americanism and comic onomatopoeia recognisable in Scotland’s streets today. Yet Adam has a unique voice which displays a childish innocence far removed from the world outside his own. Although there is little punctuation, the writing flows well and is easy to follow. The humour is constant and harsh and often tinged with pathos.

The success of the character of Adam is that the ending is left open for optimists and pessimists alike to decide for themselves whether good or evil won over Adam and that we care.

Moira McPartlin currently lives in Glasgow , but travels extensively with work. She started writing three years ago to relieve the boredom of airport lounges. She enjoys writing short stories and her passion for mountaineering and travel provides plenty of material for non fiction articles. Moira has yet to have any work published, but lives in hope. She is currently working on her first novel.

© 2005 Laura Hird All rights reserved.