The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer

Eoin Colfer is the internationally bestselling author of the Artemis Fowl series. The Supernaturalist is Eoin's vision of a dystopian future where life is short and danger is always near for ages 7-12.

Satellite City, Northern Hemisphere, soon:

Cosmo Hill is a human guinea pig in an orphanage used by corporations to test new products. Statistics say he has about a year left to live - unless he escapes. But escapes to what?

To a world of high-the gang warfare, swat teams of paralegals and a plague of four-fingered parasites who are invisible to everyone except three misfits who call themselves the Supernaturalists.
Could Cosmo be one of them? Are they the family he'd always wanted? And if he does become a Supernaturalist, will his life get any longer - or a whole lot shorter?

Acclaim for Eoin Colfer:

'Reads like The Matrix crossed with Oliver Twist' The Times

'A headlong techno fantasy... Colfer's story rattles along at a tremendous pace' Guardian

'As likely to appeal to grown-ups as children...a clattering adventure' Telegraph