Vassilis Papatheodorou 253pp. Kastaniotis, 2009 ISBN13: 978-960-0-4944-3

Thanasis’s customized soundtrack goes everywhere with him on with his MP3 player, echoing his discontents and pumping up his helpless rage. Music is a buffer against the irritations of a dysfunctional home and the school where he is about to be kept back for another year. His only companions are two inarticulate underlings in a group of nationalist thugs that targets immigrants, ignored by complaisant authorities. An invitation from the group’s cruel but charismatic leader leads to a brutal initiation and an alarming revelation about his birth-father. Though accustomed to seeing his mother mistreated by his abusive stepfather, and adept at bullying his own classmates, Thanassis rebels against the leader after performing a savage attack on his orders. When the group turns on him, he finds solidarity in unexpected quarters and begins to understand true friendship. With its keen sense of the zeitgeist, Full Blast speaks directly to young readers.

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