The former writer of Byker Grove, Robert Rigby, has just published his latest book, Avenger, which is the third book in the series of Boy Soldier. Rigby has lived in Norfolk for 20 years and is also the writer of Goal! - the fastest-selling teenage book in hardback, based on the film. Thriller Avenger was written with SAS hero Andy McNab and follows the life of 17-year-old Danny Watts, his ex-SAS grandfather, Fergus Watts, and Danny's best friend and computer genius, Elena. The novel focuses on the world of the young suicide bombers who brought death and destruction to London in Payback, the previous novel, and the bomb master, Black Star, who grooms them for their missions. "One of the things we set out to do, because the book is aimed primarily at young people, was to have young people in the novel," said Robert. "But they're operating in an adult world - which is different from a lot of books for younger people, so it does have that appeal, hopefully for adults as well," he added. Boy Soldier Robert and Andy McNab had talked about working together for some time before they eventually came up with the idea for Boy Soldier. "Andy and I had talked about working together on something - he knew I wrote for children, and he was enthusiastic about writing for young people as well and we talked about it for ages," he said. "When we started we weren't certain if we were developing something for television, for film or for books. We showed it to the publishers and they said they wanted to do a book series on it. Now we're developing the first two books in the series and Payback is going to be a film - and we're writing the script for that," he added. Character development Robert said the partnership between himself and Andy meant that they were able to create some interesting characters. "Andy has a background in SAS and knows about that world. I'm interested in great stories and I love characters and wanted to develop the characters," he said. "I liked the idea of having the grandfather and the son as the heroes rather than a long-lost dad. The grandfather is 53 and they [grandparents] often get a bad press - they're always the loveable eccentrics and I wanted a fit active guy!" he added. Controversy Both Rigby and McNab were keen to explore the controversial subject of suicide bombers. "We introduced the theme of suicide bombers and I know from talking to kids at school, that this is something that kids are very interested in - it's part of what they're growing up with," he said. "In drama lessons a drama teacher I know told me fairly recently that when she was working with the kids she asked them to develop the theme of belonging. "Instead of coming up with ideas like a football match for example, they introduced the theme of suicide bombers into their drama workshops – because they're so aware of it and what's available out there on the internet. "So in the book we introduced the theme and one of our characters is potentially being groomed as a suicide bomber. It is very hard and quite scary but the response has been incredible. "The kids can identify and relate to it - not in the first instance, but they can understand why some of their contemporaries might be affected in this way. We wanted to encourage boys back into reading and I think more are reading," he added. Avenger is suitable for readers aged 12 years and above
| 
