My rating: 4 of 5 stars
3.5 stars
Mike Nelson's début novel Mister Mister is a trip down memory lane. The backdrop of this coming of age novel is very familiar to me - the city of Hull where I was born and brought up.
The early nineteen eighties coincide with my teenage years. The descriptions of places depict how it was to grow up in this northern English city. Every detail is relatable. Nostalgic references about what we wore, ate, the music we listened to and programmes watched on television made me shake my head as I remembered long forgotten pieces of trivia from the past. All this wrapped around this fun and humorous narrative. It's littered with dialogue spoken in the way only people from Hull speak!
Mister Mister is an entertaining novel for those of a certain age who like to reminisce about life 'up north' and know the Humber Bridge is there to remind you the journey home is soon over.
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(from Goodreads)
Growing up is never easy but for twelve-year-old Tracey Townsend it’s about to get a whole lot harder as he is forced to choose between psychotic Mister’s rugby team and loyalty to Tommo, his deeply troubled friend.
Hull. 1981. Tracey’s dad, Mally, has been run over by a bus so he needs a replacement. Should he choose Jonny Bessit his mum’s new drumming boyfriend, the obsessive Mister and his weird rugby team or Pepe, the ageing revolutionary cyclist? To make matters worse everyone hates his new best mate; winning the school cup seems an impossible dream and the girls in his class think he’s in love with former TV cop David Soul. And then there’s the secret in the biscuit tin which is about to turn his twelve-year-old world upside down…
Mister Mister is Mike Nelson’s debut novel and wonderfully depicts the trails, tribulations and humour of growing up in the early 1980s.
