Josh’s state of mind in ICE SHOCK

Okay, since ‘Clues about the plot’ (of ICE SHOCK) is leading in the poll I’ll give you the first one.

I begin each book with thinking hard about the state of mind of the hero – in this case Josh.

How does he feel after the previous adventure? What’s he been through since then? Some emotions might have settled…others have festered. He isn’t in the same emotional state as he was at the end of the last book. Months have passed and when you are a teenager, months can make a huge difference.

So Josh is brooding on what has gone before…and then the story starts when I throw him a curve ball.

Some bit of new information arrives to utterly disrupt his world. In INVISIBLE CITY the news is that his father is dead. In ICE SHOCK too, the news is about his father.

A rumour; something that Josh didn’t know about those last days. Someone comes forward with an astonishing revelation. And that person is a character named Rodrigo del Pozo.

In fact I know a guy called Rodrigo del Pozo and with his permission I’ve borrowed his name and profession for the character. My friend Rodrigo, like the character in ICE SHOCK, is a singer, a tenor who specialises in early and renaissance music.

In real life, Rodrigo’s family and mine became friends when our eldest daughters met at the local Catholic primary school. Then, like the character in the story, they moved back to Santiago de Chile. I thought it would be fun to give Josh’s father a friend with the same name and profession, And then have that character turn up with an astonishing revelation.

But what will it be? Here’s a clue…it’s linked to the last known position of the Ix Codex before Josh’s grandfather, Aureliano, took it back to Mexico.

Meanwhile, if you enjoy music, take a look at Rodrigo’s website or listen to this clip on YouTube, where Rodrigo displays the virtuosity of his voice and range – without every sounding like a ‘screaming drag queen’. As he used to put it.