Safe House

January 1, 2007
Gr 6 Up-In 1999, in Belfast, Liam Fogarty's parents are murdered by intruders. Because he gets a good look at one of the gunmen, the 12-year-old is also a target. He initially takes shelter at a friend's home. After narrowly escaping being shot through the window there, he is placed in a police safe house, only to have his location betrayed. Using his wits and his talents as a gymnast, Liam is able to outrun his pursuer and return to a semblance of normal life. Readers share the boy's loneliness through his flashbacks to his parents and thoughts of his recent involvement with an interdenominational Youth Circus (particularly his budding friendship with Nicole, a Protestant girl). There is plenty of action and a reasonable amount of tension, although experienced readers will quickly work out the identity of Liam's would-be assassin. Heneghan has tackled the highly charged and complex issue of the Troubles in Northern Ireland with a bias that smacks of naïveté. An appendix listing "dates that Liam memorized in school" immediately prompts the question, "and what dates did Nicole learn in school?" To do justice to the overwhelming issue of this conflict, a novel needs to be spot-on in tone and character. "Safe House" falls short of that goal."Kara Schaff Dean, Needham Public Library, MA"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2006
On the first page of this terse novel, set in Belfast in 1999, 12-year-old Liam Fogarty's mom and dad are shot to death in their beds. Because he sees the face of one of the killers, he's in danger. The police find him refuge in a safe house. But is it safe? Soon he is on the run. Readers will be drawn by the fast action and the breathless escape adventure, but they'll also respond to the politics of war in Belfast. In his grief, Liam remembers his father's love ("No man ever wore a scarf as warm as the arms of a child") and Da's belief that there was no important difference between Catholics and Protestants--that just a few were to blame for the violence and hatred. The message against revenge, with the famous quote from Gandhi ("an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind"), is part of the drama. True to the boy's viewpoint, the betrayal and terrorism are vivid, especially in the unforgettable images of what is lost.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)