Billed as a mystery for 10 – 14 year olds, I spotted this as I browsed through Kindle Unlimited and it peaked my interest.
Mallow has a secret: she suffers from alopecia. Unfortunately, it looks as though someone has found out and is sending her creepy messages using a chat app. With her Dad working away and her Mum focussed on her poorly Gran, she feels unable to tell them and thus decides to find out who it is before her secret is exposed.
This is a thought-provoking story, which explores difference, bullying, family and friendship. As you’d expect from a book targeted at older children and young teens, it has an uplifting ending, but doesn’t shy away from highlighting the issues – both practical and emotional – that Mallow faces when dealing with her hair loss. By the end of the story, she summons the courage to tackle her secret head-on and as a result, grows in confidence and self-belief. It was an enjoyable and relatively short read, but the mystery angle wasn’t particularly prominent for me. That said, I think that this is probably a case of readers from differing generations focussing on different elements of the story. Definitely worth a read…