Sleeper

by Luke C. Jackson

Sleeper is a fastmoving story in the tradition of the espionage genre, featuring a female protagonist, Sara Gray. Sara finds herself on the run after classified information is stolen during her best friend's 16th birthday party. She is determined to find out who's responsible. Themes treated are identity, belonging, morality and ethics, film piracy and the nature of family, power and wealth. As part of the English Alive program, the novel has a number of accompanying worksheets, found in the English Alive Teacher Resource Book Phase 3 , covering language, reading, thinking strategies, and an overview of the novel. Sara Gray is sixteen years old. She can speak several languages, ride a motorbike at high speed, and beat a grown man in hand-to-hand combat. Only she doesn't know it... yet. Living in the Indian city of Udaipur, Sara attends Calderstone's International, the school of choice for families with ties to business, tourism and the government - families who must guard against prying eyes. When classified information is stolen during her best friend's birthday party, Sara Gray is determined to find out who is responsible, but she must first answer other questions. Who has been sending her cryptic messages? How has she developed incredible new abilities? And why is her head suddenly filled with memories of someone else's childhood? The answers will lead Sara from the backstreets of Rajastan to the playground of Bollywood's elite, forcing her to confront a terrifying that her whole life has been a lie.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Luke C Jackson is an author and an educator. He has written novels, games, a picture book, screenplays and graphic novels. He started writing seriously when he was 18, and had his first novel published seven years later.

Reviews

[Floyd · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was set this book a few weeks ago and finished it today. I did not find the book enjoyable in anyway whatsoever. I found the plot rather dull and I could not connect with the book in anyway. The last 20 pages were probably the only pages that did anything positive to me. The main character is punished all the way trough the book by Jackson's so called 'writing'. Honestly, I would have loved it if the central character died. Why is Jacaranda making lousy authors write books for secondary kids that already (most likely) don't enjoy reading? If this was not a book for schools, I would have put it in a bonfire. Avoid at all costs.

[Adam Allford · Rating 1 out of 5]

Which is more disturbing? That this pile of poorly written excrement is targeted and taught to our students? Or that this "author" is trying to mould our next batch of educators? The only positive to come out of this novel was that it providided more evidence that the late Christopher Hitchens was right when he said " Everybody does have a book in them, but in most cases that’s where it should stay."

[Jennine]

Great for Yr 9 and the sequel if good too