Under the Radar by Des O’Leary. Pub. Cuba Press, 2021.

One of the most entertaining novels for high school and intermediate students I have read this year. It is the sequel to the excellent Slice of Heaven novel which was about a rough and ready racially diverse high school group who are forced to form a softball team as punishment for misdemeanors. This novel is about the same group of students plus a couple of new ones and how their lives and relationships develop in the following year.

Sione and TJ are the central characters again with Sione after parental pressure deciding that this year he is going to stay under the radar. Fat chance of that but he resists. A new big girl comes to school and he is assigned the task of showing her the ropes which he does reluctantly. Her name is Teresa and she has a shit attitude “I don’t want to make an effort. I don’t want friends. I don’t care if they don’t like me”.

This is not the only problem Sione faces. His younger brother Ronnie is seduced by the gangsta culture and wants to join a gang as a wannabe. Three of Sione’s softball buddies form a crew called FBK and want Sione to join. get respect, have your back covered, the gang is better support than your family, you will be safe on the streets. When Sione resists violence results but there is a guardian angel afoot called Turtle a big connected gang leader who drives a Mercedes and has an offsider called Ponytail. Why is Turtle looking after his back?

Lots of street action but the star of the writing is the banter between the characters. It is fast and witty with verses of rap lyrics in between. When big boy Jordan takes part in the shotput at the school sports day “he took it slow, he let it go, in that last throw. he felt the flow?

Sports Day and a after school Mathematics class are highlights and help bring Teresa out of her attitude. The discussion amongst the school mates over how the school Houses got their names is hilarious.

A great portrait of the community of South Auckland and of a school culture. The gangsta wannabe culture is exposed for what it is and the novel stresses family and community values. It you miss this one you will kick yourself. Very entertaining and easy to read in short chapters.

I am sure there will be another novel about this community. Bring it on.