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SIXTEEN-YEAR OLD TWINS IN CANDY-STORE CRIME SPREE!

Twins, Paisley and Beau Argent are in the headlines again. Last time, they were the 'wonder twins', when, as six-year-olds, they were found alive in woods after three days missing following their mother’s death – three days spent looking for their dad.

Now at sixteen, life’s not so wonderful. Cast out and exploited by their money-grabbing grandmother, they’re still clueless about their dad’s whereabouts. Until they discover an old letter from him.

That’s when they decide to hit the road – and make headlines again. Holding up fast-food joints in Las Vegas might seem extreme but if they can get on the news, and tell their dad they need him, they might just get the dream reunion they never thought could happen.

Billed as a darkly-comic ‘Tarantino for teens’ – this is a fast, fearless and funny first novel from C.J. Skuse.

Reviews:

'It's so good, I'd even recommend it to people I don't like.' AUTHOR KEVIN BROOKS

'a pacy car-chase of a read, with shoot from the hip dialogue.’  AUTHOR CATHERINE FORDE

'... hip, anarchic ... and effortlessly readable ...' THE BOOKSELLER

You can see the trailer on You Tube right here.

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‘Why d’you call us the Wonder Twins, Dad?’ I once asked him. I must have been around five, I guess. I was helping him mend the backyard fence.

‘Because that’s what you are. You and Paisley are my Wonder Twins. You took a long time to, well, come along.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Never mind. Point is, when we finally got you, we were real happy.’

‘Was Mom happy?’

‘Yeah, Beau, she was. You know, there are these superheroes called the Wonder Twins, too. They’re a brother and sister. To get their powers, they have to touch hands and say, “Wonder Twin Powers: Activate!” When you and Paisley were babies, your cribs used to be next to one another and when one of you would wake up, you’d stretch your arm through the bars to reach for the other one. Like if you touched hands, you’d activate your powers too. It was the cutest thing.’

‘Do me and Paisley have super powers?’

‘You’re both pretty super to me.’

‘Who cried most, me or Paisley?’

‘You,’ said Dad, without even thinking. ‘But all we had to do was put you in the crib with your sister and you’d shut right up, every time. Like magic.’

So that was us as babies. The Wonder Twins. Better together. When we went missing in the woods, the news anchor who broke our story to the nation called us the same thing. Wondrous. Wonderful. Wonder Kids. They said we had kept each other alive. I didn’t get what was so amazing about us until I read all the news reports years later.

There was a spate of child murders around the time we got lost. Kids would vanish for a couple nights and then their bodies would show up somewhere. Near the swings in a park in Elizabeth. Floating on a pond in South Orange. On the roadside near our elementary school. But we were found, alive. Everybody just went nuts.

And what with it being March and us being out in the open for three nights alone.

And us being six.

We were little wonders.

America loved us.

Now we were thieves. Arsonists. America wouldn’t think us quite so wonderful now, that was for sure.