Stunt Double - Tamsin Cooke

Finn is a free-running black belt, with a talent for acting-but when his big break arrives, it's not the role he was expecting at all. 

Recruited as a stunt double, he's pushed to his limits-scaling walls at high speed, jumping from dizzying heights, and diving into rocky waters-all without any safety gear. He's determined to push himself, but as the stunts get more dangerous, the lines between movie and reality are really starting to blur, and it becomes clear that he'll be luckily to escape this shoot with his life.

'Sometimes real life can be more exciting than the movies' and Finn is about to discover this himself. After finally getting a speaking role in the same teen action movie as his former friend and now arch-nemesis Blake, Finn is horrified when he loses the part to a girl. He doesn't have to brood for long though as Agatha Novak, the famed but rather eccentric director, catches him somewhere he shouldn't be. Fast forward a couple of days, Finn is now Blake's stunt double and they're heading out to Papua New Guinea to film some of the more daring stunts.

What Finn, Blake, Anna and Mawi don't realize is that Novak has an alternative agenda and doesn't care what lengths she has to go to achieve it or who she hurts. Only after Anna is injured and most of the crew disappear do the teenagers start to notice that things aren't quite as they seem. Suddenly finding themselves in 'life or death' situations it would appear that real life is maybe about to get both more exciting and dangerous.

Stunt Double is a fantastic read, you never quite know who is in on the real reason for the cast and crew to be in Papua New Guinea and who isn't. Novak doesn't hold back on some pretty cruel ways of persuading the children to do what she wants, in fact some of it is really quite scary for a boy thousands of miles away from everything and everybody he knows. The reason for their current location was amazing, without giving anything away it really was something spectacular and something so unbelievable that it made it seem all the more real. 

Tamsin Cooke has written a real page-turner of an adventure story, with a great cast of characters both young and old. Although Finn and Mawi were definitely my favourites I had a soft spot for our batty director who thoroughly deserved everything she got for dragging children into an incredibly perilous adventure, although I think Finn was quite rightly in his element! If you're looking for an addictive read, full of action with a healthy dose of friendship, then Stunt Double is perfect. I can't wait to find out if we're going to see more of Finn as although this story is finished, there's a "what? what just happened? now that's a bit of a cliff-hanger!" moment and I sincerely hope his adventures as a Stunt Double continue.

Stunt Double - Tamsin Cooke
ISBN - 9780192749826
Publisher - Oxford University Press
Release date - July 6th, 2017
Find - Goodreads | Book Depository

On Finding Inspiration In A Car Park - Tamsin Cooke

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Stunt Double, the fantastic new novel by Tamsin Cooke. As this guest post goes to show, you really can find inspiration anywhere!

Finding inspiration in a car park!

Inspiration can strike absolutely anywhere – in dreams, while dog walking, from music or paintings, - you name it. Inspiration can even hit you when sitting in a car at the side of the road in the middle of an industrial estate!

I knew that I wanted to start a new story and this time I wanted to have a boy as the main character. But I didn’t have a solid idea. I’d been thinking about storylines involving travel or mistaken identity.

Then one evening, feeling hot, sweaty and rather irritable (although you probably didn’t need to know that), I sat watching the door to my teenage son’s free running club. He’d been having a fantastic time - running, vaulting, somersaulting, swinging – basically doing anything he could to get from one point to another in the fastest possible way. But now he was late and in a hurry.

At last, he emerged. He ran through the car park dodging vehicles, vaulted the wall and swung over the bonnet of our car.

‘Don’t you dare!’ I shouted before he could leap straight through the back open window.

He opened the door and flopped inside.

But I didn’t turn on the engine. Instead, I froze. My son had reminded me of a stunt performer. And it occurred to me – wouldn’t that be the most amazing job for a teenager? It’s full of risk, adventure, and glamour. Suddenly I remembered the Fall Guy – a television programme I watched as a child about an undercover

stuntman who captures criminals using his skills and knowledge of stunts. I used to love it.

‘Are we going then?’ asked the impatient teenager.

Still, I didn’t move.  It was a real ‘Eureka!’ moment.

When I get an idea for a story, images fly into my head. I conjure up scenes and they play out in my brain like an act from a movie.  At that moment, although sitting in the car in the industrial estate, in my mind I could see a bridge – the sort that splits into two parts allowing a ship to go through, like Tower Bridge in London. A boy was scrambling up one of the rising wings of the bridge. Running as hard as he could, the wing rose steeper and steeper. He grabbed onto the edge and pulled himself up, until he was perched on the ridge, ready to jump across.

‘Cut’ shouted the director.

Suddenly I noticed the wires connecting his body to a crane in case he fell. And there were camera crew filming his every move.

‘Mum, are we going?’ said my son, jolting me back to reality.

‘Would you like to be a stunt performer when you’re older?’ I said, turning on the engine.

‘What are you talking about?’ he asked.

‘Never mind.’

I drove home as fast as I could (not like a stunt driver I must add!) and started Googling stuntmen.  To my dismay, I discovered stunt performers have to be over the age of 18. Arggh! Then I realized this was going to be fiction. I could make it work. Plus being a teenage stunt double was no longer just exciting, it was illegal too!

Over the next few weeks, I scoured the Internet, researching movies and stunt performers. I talked to a director and met a real life stuntwoman  - who might be one of the coolest people in the world!  Every time I learnt something knew, another new idea sparked. The more I learned, the more inspired I became.  Scenes flew into my head and I frantically scribbled down the ideas.  I am a planner. I can’t just write and let a story evolve. Soon I had the whole story mapped out.

I condensed all of my ideas into a one-page synopsis and sent it off to my agent Anne Clarke who then sent it off to my publishers. To my utter joy, Oxford University Press said YES. For those of you old enough to remember the orange juice advert on TV, I felt like the man from Delmonte had said Yes!!! Just like movies are given the green light to start filming, I was given the green light to start writing.  Stunt Double was born!

Huge thanks to Tamsin for the fabulous guest post and don't forget to check out my review of this fantastic adventure story.

 

Book Haul #68

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews where we can share what new books we've picked up this past week be they bought, borrowed or downloaded. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!

I think I've finally managed to cut down on how much I spend on books and the amount of books I buy! Whether it lasts a long time or not I don't know but here's hoping... I bought a couple of books this week and a couple of Kindle deals. I was very restrained, I even deleted some bookish sale emails without looking, unbelievable as it may seem! What made my week though was getting Marcus Sedgwick's first adult novel, A Love Like Blood. There was much squealing that day!

Bought

Good Omens (Collectors Edition) | Crave | The Essence | The Offering

Kindle

Malice | Memory's Wake | Storm and Stone

Review

Harvester | A Love Like Blood

Book Haul #58

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews and Letterbox Love is a UK edition hosted by Narratively Speaking. Here we can share what new books we've picked up this past week. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!

My name is Fi and I'm a bookaholic, it's been four days since my last book purchase and all I want to do is click 'buy'... My self-imposed challenge to only read books I already own or from the library kicked in on New Year's Day and so far, so good! As I said above it has only been four days so who knows what I'll be like after four weeks or four months. Just in case I have a £10 book token stashed away to be used in case of emergency, I'm hoping to get past my birthday in three weeks before caving but that will depend on whether my willpower stays strong. I did make the most of the last few days of 2013 though, bought a couple of Kindle bargains and I also ordered a couple of secondhand books which haven't arrived yet. Here's what I got this week!

Bought

Maps - Aleksandra Mizielinska & Daniel Mizielinski

The Cabinet of Wonders - Marie Rutkoski

Kindle

Mysterious Misadventures of Clemency Wrigglesworth - Julia Lee

Netgalley

Defy - Sara B Larson

Edelweiss

The Queen of the Tearling - Erika Johansen

Strange Chemistry

Stolen Songbird - Danielle L Jensen

Stolen Songbird was a nice surprise. It was delivered to my neighbor while I was away so I had no idea until she dropped it off, along with a envelope full of Moomin paper tapes and a box full of luscious new stationery!