The Chain

by Keith Gray

Cal is sick of being the good guy ... Joe's dad is a big time loser - can Joe ever be a winner? Ben has two girlfriends - but only loves himself, and Kate has to say the hardest goodbye of all. Four people. Four stories. Four links in the chain. One book, which will change their lives forever.

Genres: Young Adult

82 pages, ebook

First published December 28, 2012

About the author

Keith Gray grew up in and around Grimsby and Cleethorpes on the east coast of England and decided he'd better take his writing ambition seriously after achieving 0% in his accountancy exams. His debut, 'Creepers', was published when he was only 24 and was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize. Since then his books have either won or been shortlisted for awards all over the world including the Sankei Cultural Publishing Prize of Japan, the American Library Association Best Books (YA) and the Booktrust Teenage Prize. In the UK his bestselling novel 'Ostrich Boys' was shortlisted for the prestigious CILIP Carnegie Medal, the Costa Children's Book Award and won the Scottish Children's Book Awards, and has been adapted for the stage. Keith has been a reviewer for both the Guardian and Scotsman newspapers. In 2017 he moved to live in Vienna, Austria, with his partner, their daughter and a parrot called Bellamy. Keith is a co-founder of Sunday Writers’ Club.

Reviews

[Amelie · Rating 3 out of 5]

all i have to say about this book is that it was extremely weird.

[Kiera James]

The chain was a short book. Throughout this book we experience four different characters stories who eventually connect through a book making " a chain" the four characters each have completley different lives but connect in some of the same ways. Its a quick read but bring a quick read the book becomes very choppy i wish the book was longer and each character had a little more to say

[Matt Franks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book confuse be at first I thought it was about four people with thier own stories.The plot as a whole was confusing to me. But book was a good/fast read. Would recommend it to anyone who wants a quick read or wants to mix up their reading style.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had 4 short stories, with a book connecting all of them. However each story I felt I didn’t get the closure I wanted hoping they would all come together in the end. The 4th story I think was the best story because it did have closure and really touched the heart.

[Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of the stories are well written and the way they come together was so enlightening. Every story had an emotion tied to it in a different way. Sympathy, disappointment, disgust, and empathy. It has a wonderful message at the end.

[IssaHev · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actually a great book to read with my Year 8 pupils struggling to enjoy reading - covers themes relevant to their lives & had some swear words which they obviously found very naughty and loved.

[Sigourney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was certainly more interesting than the other 'dyslexia friendly' books that I've read from Barrington Stoke. It is very short and choppy in its narrative but I found it quite intriguing finding out how everything was interwoven (although it took me an embarrassingly long time to connect the title - The Chain - with the chapters - Links). And, for the record, Ben is a dickhead.

[Leanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four short stories, linked by one book. The format would make it very accessible to reluctant teen readers, both male and female, and the font and white spacing add further appeal for this cohort. Although the sentence structures are simple they did not hamper the flow of the stories as can sometimes be the case with stories written for struggling readers. Not sure about the "morality" of some of the tales but could prompt some good discussions.

[Laura Spicer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book " The Chain" by Keith Gray is such an interesting, realatible in a sort of way book. The author seperates it into different stories for different characters. It has thrilling twists and plots to the stories. I found it a very good, short, reading for young teenagers like me. If you want a short and easy read that isn't boring read The Chain!

[Caleigh Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book the chain is a very quick and easy read. I liked how the author separated the story into three different sections. each section was a new story. They were similar in some ways but it want like it was one over all story. I liked how this book was laid out like that. If you need a quick and easy story with different twists then you would like the chain.

[Daniel Bellemore · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the book the chain by Keith Gray it was about three different people all coming across the same book starting from trying to enter a gang to getting it from an anniversary present. If you like a short read and some mystery then this is the book for you to read. I would recommend this book to someone else.

[Gavin Fraser-felix · Rating 2 out of 5]

The chain,by Keith gray, is a very short book. It is made even shorter by having it broken up into different stories for the different characters. It was cool how they were somehow chained together but it was also kind of confusing. I gave this book two stars because it was a little too short, and didn't really make me want to keep reading

[Lindsay Coppens · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book because it's incredibly short with large print that I thought would appeal to some of my students who really don't like to read. It's a fine story with a good premise; I just wish it were more detailed. But super short is what I wanted and it's what I got.

[Austin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Chain By Kieth Gray was a group of 4 short stories linked together by a book. This book brought luck to some and not to others. In general, I thought the book lacked detail. It would've been much more enjoyable if Gray had put more detail in and made the book longer.

[Olivia MacDonald · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. At first I thought it was going to be about 4 people and how they all have kind of the same plot but nope. It was confusing to me about the plot as a whole. But book was a good/fast read. Would recommend it to anyone who wants a quick read.

[Garrett Powers · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was very short but had a good plot. The book was a chain with four links with four different people. It is very well ended and tied together within the last few pages. I wish the book was longer so it could go more in depth than it had.

[Emilio · Rating 2 out of 5]

:)

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars