Review: Here Comes Trouble by Simon Wroe

Ellis Dau is in a predicament. He caused some trouble at school and now he is grounded; stranded with his parents, with no electronics and without permission to leave the house. When he is instructed to tag along to work with his dad (the editor of the Chronical newspaper), Ellis realises that problems are everywhere, and that the world as he knows it can be darker than he ever realised. In an impoverished country with high rates of corruption, things are far from idyllic. However, when a group of radical protesters in white hats start tormenting the paper and the population, Ellis is ripped from his self-centred focus, and is inspired to act and bring about meaningful change. All the while, there’s more to contend with; think love interest a la Romeo and Juliet, as well as teenage angst and sarcasm. It’s a winning combination.

Simon Wroe is an incredibly gifted writer; it has been an age since I felt so truly moved by a book. His use of language to sculpt masterpieces of imagery and nuanced humour testify to the man’s brilliance. Wordsmith is perhaps an inept description, for Wroe seems to reinvent the narrative, making it an adventure in linguistics as well as a scarily addictive journey into Ellis’ world.

Don’t be fooled by the cover – this is not a fictionised account of some soviet political rerun, this is an entirely new and brilliant look at what can go wrong when democracy and sanity crumble. Wroe challenges conceptions of oppression and ignorance; in his world, things are turned upside down, and the detritus that falls from pockets is sheer brilliance, scattered across the page.

I demand more from the writer, and encourage everyone to add Here Comes Trouble to the top of their to-read piles.

Here Comes Trouble by Simon Wroe is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, and is available in South Africa from Jonathan Ball Publishers.