Long Reach by Peter Cocks

Walker Books, 2011. ISBN 978141632474.
(Ages 13+) Thriller. The life Eddie Savage is about to lead is every pubescent boy's dream. When his brother is found dead Eddie finds that his brother had another life, a shady one that dealt with the underbelly of society. That is also the life that Eddie finds himself lured into. The reader is never sure what this is, but is given hints about its governmental associations.
With a very small amount of training tough but short and sweet Eddie at seventeen, finds himself living in a luxurious safe house with a bar and babe laid on. He is supposed to be a bit of a whizz with computers but the reader gets very little sense of this because Cocks doesn't want his hero to be a nerd.
Eddie has to infiltrate a criminal family through the sexy young daughter Sophie, who has a reputation of being untouchable. The father has a reputation of being very protective and a story does the rounds of a former boyfriend being found dead at the bottom of a multistory carpark. Naturally Eddie takes all in his stride and is soon welcomed into the bosom of the family by all but Sophies brother Jason.
With short chapters, and an enticing cover, this is an easy read with a very familiar storyline, it has blood, killings, drug use, sex and tension, which will appeal to boys of the middle teenage years.
Fran Knight