High Jinx by Sara Lawrence

Faber; 2007. ISBN-0571236707 (pb)

Funky cover, funky heroine…

“Jinx” (Jane) Slater is a lower-sixth former with a mission, at an expensive boarding school on the South Coast. The mission: to slip out unnoticed with her best friend Liberty, and get trashed on the town.

Sadly, the sudden arrival of new girl Stella from a rival school throws Jinx’s plans off-kilter, and as Stella causes ripples of disruption and jealousy to spread out across the year group, Jinx throws herself in to the mystery of the new girl’s shady past.

With some determined sleuthing, a bit of luck and a touch of judicious blackmail, wrongs are righted, equilibrium is restored, and Jinx comes out on top……and if you’re thinking that all that’s missing is lashings of ginger beer then that’s OK, because High Jinx is Enid Blyton for the 21st-century teenager.

Yes, there’s a hockey match; yes, it’s set in a girls’ boarding school; yes, they’re all posh. But they swear like troopers, use their mobiles constantly, smoke, and snog local boys. Some of them do drugs, the beer is definitely alcoholic, and Brighton is a lot more their scene than Kirrin Island. They make the Naughtiest Girl look like an angel.

The characters are sympathetically drawn, and the energy of their relationships carries the reader easily through the (very slightly) predictable central mystery. Although mainly told from Jinx’s point of view, we are allowed glimpses into other characters’ heads – which contributes much to the comedy. The style is swift and chatty, and loaded with slang, bad language and references to fashion. It’s a very engagingly-written book.

Although the central story is essentially a mystery, the book does touch on the issues of friendship, loyalty and The Teenager’s Great Struggle For Understanding In The Adult World. There are positive portrayals of ethnic minorities and homosexuality. Jinx herself, though no goody-two-shoes, has a strong sense of justice and fairness, the triumph of which lifts an otherwise slightly down-beat ending.

It’s racy, it’s rude and it probably shouldn’t be read by under-15s. The rest of us, though, can curl up with a (ginger) beer and enjoy a thoroughly modern take on an old-fashioned rip-roaring read.

Reviewer: Tim Davies - Children's Librarian Rotherham MBC