Pretty Boy Red

Child prisoner Joel Brady is facing trial for murder. If he can survive that long.

Vivid, complex, hard-hitting and compelling Ray Robinson

In the juvenile wing of a prison in Western Australia, fourteen-year-old Joel Brady – small, girly-voiced, nicknamed Psycho – is awaiting trial for his role as sidekick to child abductor Marcus Welby.

Joel still isnt sure what he did that last day at Welbys outback house of horror; his memory has blotted it out. Is his mind playing tricks in other respects too? Did he really see the malevolent Quentin, another of Welbys associates, in the adult wing of the prison? Or is Quentin a figment of his imagination, as Joels lawyers insist?

A more immediate priority is hiding from the rampaging cons who have escaped the adult wing, one of whom wants Joels head. Will his cellmate Glenn, an arch-enemy who has become his first real friend, stay loyal?

Set in an ultra-violent, alpha-male world where human connection is a double-edged sword, and interwoven with a gripping courtroom drama in which the truth about Welbys chilling set-up gradually emerges, this powerful literary thriller marks the debut of a remarkable talent.