Hybrids: Saga Competition Winner David Thorpe 9780007247844

A thrilling sci-fi novel set in a believeable - and terrifying - near future... Hybrids is the winning entry to the HarperCollins nationwide new author competition with SAGA Magazine.

Johnny Online and Kestrella are hybrids - victims of "Creep", a pandemic sweeping the country which causes sufferers to merge with items of technology when over-exposed to their use. Kestrella persuades a wary Johnny to help her find her missing mother, but the Gene Police have other plans for him...

Powerful, compelling, and narrated alternately by Johnny and Kes, it questions our human dependence on technology, and our reactions in the face of nationwide panic. This was the outstanding winner of the Children's Book Writing Competition run in conjunction with SAGA Magazine.

Orange-prize winning author Helen Dunmore - one of the judges - says: "The writing is sharp, the dialogue good, and the action pacey and page-turning. But there's a real depth to this story, too. Like all good fiction it makes the reader see the world in a different light."

David Thorpe lives in the mountains not far from the beaches of beautiful mid-Wales. He spends his time wondering. When he was smaller he noticed that most adults seemed to have forgotten what it was like to be a child and vowed to try not to do the same himself. Previously he has worked on the sewers, written comics, published eco-books and been a journalist. If you want to make him happy you can help to save the tiger from extinction.

"A stunningly clever novel." Amanda Craig, The Times

"[A] commendable first novel... there is vigour and vitality in Hybrids." Financial Times

"What singles out Hybrids is its well-crafted characters and finely spun tension. It's an impressive debut and clearly demonstrates why it beat nearly 900 other manuscripts to win a HarperCollins/Saga magazine writing competition. I certainly look forward to seeing what other ideas David Thorpe has to explore in the future." Bookseller's Choice, The Bookseller.

"Thorpe creates an inventive dystopian world." Books for Keeps

"I thought that this book was a masterpiece. The book is fast paced, and it interacts perfectly with the modern world. I recommend it to everybody. It is a five-star book!" 12-year-old reviewer for Redhouse