I’d been good for nearly a
week. Only one fight; it must have been a record for me. I should have known it
couldn’t last…
Billie keeps getting into trouble - she doesn’t mean to, but somehow it
just happens. Chris thinks school is a waste of time - he’s desperate to leave,
but his parents are forcing him to stay. And Rob might look big and tough, but
his violent stepfather keeps getting the better of him, and inside, he feels
utterly helpless. Soon, events take a downward spiral for each of them and they get excluded from their schools and are sent to the Brandt, the local Pupil
Referral Unit (PRU). There, their lives collide, with surprising results for
all of them.
At first glance, Billie, Chris and Rob seem like the sort of teenagers
the media delights in demonising - troublemakers, wasters, no-hopers. But there
is more to their stories than first meets the eye. Almost immediately, you
start to learn the real reasons behind their behaviour, and why school isn’t –
and often can’t – be their number one
priority. As the story unfolds, it reveals a hidden world where the characters
are unsung heroes, fighting for themselves and their loved ones, while so many
of those around them are blind to what's really going on in their lives.
Burgess, author of the controversial and brilliant Junk and Doing It, as well as many other highly-acclaimed novels for
children and young adults, visited several PRUs in the course of researching Kill All Enemies – which started life as
a project commissioned for Channel 4 – and Billie, Chris and Rob are based on
the kids he talked to. They are such engaging and believable characters, and
knowing their stories come from real life makes them all the more harrowing,
because they could be the stories of people you see every day: that kid
slouching at the bus stop with their hood pulled over their face and a
cigarette dangling from their lower lip; the one getting into fights behind the
school; the one hanging out in the park late at night in the rain because anywhere’s better
than home…
Luckily for Chris, Billie and Rob, there are a few people who do understand them – or at least try to
– and who help to stop them falling through the cracks completely.
As for the ending… when I read the closing lines, I wanted to punch the
air and cheer. Chris, you’re my hero! But I won’t spoil it by telling you why -
if you want to find out, grab yourself a copy now!
