Double Cross: Book 4 (Noughts And Crosses)

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Double Cross by Malorie Blackman is the fourth and final book in the series, I recommend reading the others before you read this one as otherwise it will be difficult to grasp the plot.

But when he's offered the chance to earn some money just for making a few 'deliveries', just this once, would it hurt to say 'yes'? I can get why it was a good idea to market this as part of the series but for me it doesn’t work like that and that makes me sad.Malorie has also written a number of titles for younger readers including Cloud Busting, which won the Smarties Silver Award, The Monster Crisp Guzzler, Robot Girl, Snow Dog, A Dangerous Game and My Friend's A Gris-Kwok. I give it a full 5 stars for the happy ending at the end, making all our tears throughout the series change into smiles. Last in the dystopian series set in an alternative Britain in which a 360 degree turnaround focuses light from a different angle on racism, with the setting an alternative history in which Crosses, black people, have always been the dominant civilising force, with white people as former slaves only emancipated fifty years before the timeline of the story. The writing is perfect, it paints the scenes so well without adding words that don’t need to be there. The danger of being sucked into and destroyed by this violent world is brilliantly handled by Blackman .

Would-be censors should read and take note - you can describe teen sex without either glorifying it or presaging personal ruin. Her work has appeared on screen, with Pig-Heart Boy, which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, being adapted into a BAFTA-award-winning TV serial. This is such a good ending to the series as you see it from how everyone else is feeling about black and white people who are normal everyday people and don't have any money. Although Malorie is an incredible writing I couldn’t seem to get into this book and found it harder to read compared to the first 3. I will add a warning - it is written on the back of the book 'Not suitable for younger readers', this book contains drug usage, violence and sex.

The story is also quite a page turner with tension rising as Tobey becomes more and more enveloped in danger from all sides and it is unclear how he can ever prevail.

Despite the eventual happy ending, there is still the unintended consequence that thanks to his efforts, the crime empire is now united under the control of one man. In 2005 she was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her contribution to children’s books, and in 2008 she received an OBE for her services to children’s literature. Blackman portrays an engagingly vulnerable, multifaceted character in Tobey, who narrates the majority of the book, and through him creates for her readers profound moral and ethical dilemmas. Malorie Blackman is one of the best YA authors I have read in quite some time, each chapter is shown from the point of view of the different characters and they are written so well you get to know the character on a different level, their thoughts and feelings, great to read.

As with the pervious books, you are really drawn in to the characters world and feel the ups and downs with them, understanding how they end up in the bad situations they do. She knows about terrible mistakes, and violence and revenge, and the fierce divide between Noughts and Crosses.