Review: Johnny nothing
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 22, 2014
This book is at times funny, ironic, entertaining and showing groan-out-loud awful behaviour.  The clear comparison is with Roald Dahl. Aimed at young people, who are more vulnerable to the whims of parents and less able to take responsibility simply because of their age, there are life lessons which bright kids will absorb on the first reading. This could also be a good family discussion point.Johnny has nothing going for him and when a rich mean businessman uncle in London leaves him a million pounds and a bank card, he thinks his life will change for the better. Well, sort of. His mother Felicity promptly appropriates the card and PIN for safekeeping. As one would when the owner is a ten year old boy.  A few hours at Harrods's later, the account is ten thousand pounds poorer. And it's not as if any of those shoes are for Johnny.Cue instant gratification galore as the family pack their council flat with goods and take long holidays.  They've been 'allergic to work' we are told and have no sense when it comes to spending. There has to be a catch doesn't there?  Well, yes. If Johnny can return in a year and show that his bank balance has increased, he'll inherit ten million pounds. Interest alone would do that for him... but not at the current spending rate.The author explores with a gentle touch the manner in which kids are forced to lead their parents' lifestyles and have no power over decisions or discretionary spending. Johnny wants to run away at one point, but even with money he would have nowhere to go and nobody will help someone aged ten to live alone.My reason for not giving this book more stars is quite simple. The author appears to believe that all young readers are obsessed by or interested in bodily functions, smells, decay and death.  No, actually, I wasn't. Maybe some kids are like dogs which want to roll in every whiff. I was the most tomboyish girl you can imagine and I ended up working with horses, demolition and trees. Body odours of all kinds are not what I want on every page of my reading matter.  This preoccupation may attract some young readers but of the age group the author seeks, youngsters are getting pretty sophisticated and they may well be deterred by the opening chapters with a decaying corpse - missing out on what should be a fun and salutary read.I hope the author Ian Probert will write a more approachable story next, as he clearly has a good tale to tell and his strong characterisation, coupled with a wicked sense of humour and vivid visuals, would make me keen to read it.