AustLit

'The sequel to the much-loved novel, The Cartographer. Picking straight up where The Cartographer left off, we learn that the Blayneys' house has burnt down, and the person suspected of arson is their erstwhile house guest, young Keith Kavanagh. Young Keith, who the kid calls Flame Boy, has also, not coincidentally, gone missing, thus setting our narrator is on a mission to find him and save him. But while he's trying to save Flame Boy - also known as The Torch - he's also on the lookout for a buried suitcase of secrets; having to simultaneously manage a new gang of boys that he's formed, not to mention a new girlfriend who alarmingly, likes kissing - a lot; avoid Keith's dangerous prison-escapee father, Fergus Kavanagh, also an arsonist, who is suspected of having sold secrets to the Russians; and most importantly make sure his mother doesn't know what he's up to. It's all madcap, slightly shambolic and irresistably fun.' (Publication summary)