• Information
• Extract

Fourteen-year-old Will Burrows lives with his family in London. He has little in common with them except for a passion for digging which he shares with his father.

When his father suddenly disappears down an unknown tunnel, Will decides to investigate with his friend Chester. Soon they find themselves deep underground, where they unearth a dark and terrifying secret – a secret which may cost them their lives.

Classic subterranean science fiction with a hint of horror.

Tunnels and its sequel Deeper have gone on to sell over 150,000 copies in the UK alone, and have been published in over 32 different languages across the globe.

A movie adaptation of Tunnels is currently in production.

Reviews:

'It’s a good adventure yarn, about a 13-year-old boy who discovers an underworld ruled by a violent regime.' THE TIMES

'There is a genuine Potteresque momentum to the story...' THE OBSERVER

'It’s well paced, exciting and - in places – frightening and bloody.' PHILIP ARDAGH, GUARDIAN

'Does it live up to the hype? Yes.' DAILY EXPRESS

That was enough for Chester, who immediately moved into the lift. Will slid the gate shut behind him, and, pushing and holding the lever down, the lift once again shuddered into motion and began to descend.

Through the caging, interrupted every so often by the dark mouths of other levels, they saw the rock face slowly sweeping by in muted shades of browns and blacks and greys, ochres and yellows. A damp breeze blew about them, and at one point Chester shone his light through the grill above them, up into the shaft and on to the cables, which looked like a pair of dirty laser beams fading into deep space.

‘How far down do you think it goes?’ Chester asked.

‘How should I know?’ Will replied gruffly. In fact, it was almost five minutes before the lift finally came to a stop with an abrupt and bone-shaking bump that made them fall against the sides of the cage. ‘Maybe I should have let go of the lever a bit earlier,’ Will said sheepishly.

Chester threw his friend a blank look, as if nothing really mattered any more, and then they both stood there, their lights throwing giant diamond silhouettes from the lift cage on to the walls beyond. ‘Here we go again,’ Chester sighed as he slid back the gate and Will pushed impatiently past him into another metal-plate room, rushing through it to get to the door at the far end.

‘This is just like the one above,’ Will noted as he busied himself with the three handles on the side of the door. This one had a large 0 painted on it. They took a few tentative steps into the cylindrical room, their boots ringing out against the undulating sheet-metal flooring and their torch beams illuminating yet another door in front of them.

‘Seems we only have one way to go,’ Will said, striding towards it.

‘These things look like something out of a submarine,’ Chester muttered under his breath. Standing on tiptoe, Will looked through the small glass porthole, but couldn’t make out anything on the other side.

And when he tried to shine his torch through it, the grease and the scratches on the ancient glass only refracted the beam, so that it became more opaque than ever. ‘Damn it,’ he said to himself. Passing his torch to Chester, he rotated the three handles and then pushed against the door. ‘It’s stuck!’ he grunted. He tried again, without success.

‘Give me a hand, will you?’ Chester joined in, and with their shoulders braced against the door they pushed and shoved with all their might. Suddenly, it burst open with a loud hiss and a massive rush of air, and they stumbled through into the unknown. Their boots now ground on cobblestones as they regained their footing and straightened up.

Before them was a scene that they both knew they would never forget for as long as they lived.

A street.