The narrator of this tender and funny book is eleven-year-old Harrison Opoku, the second best runner in Year 7.  A recent immigrant from the African country of Ghana, along with his mother and his older sister Lydia, Harrison has a unique perspective on his life in a London council estate, dealing with gangs, knives, unfashionable training shoes and a talking pigeon. But his life is changed forever when one of his friends is murdered. Harrison decides to act, turning council-estate detective, but he ends up endangering the protection for himself and his family his mother has worked so hard to create.This is a great novel and could be read by adults or students. Some of the themes are quite tough and hard-hitting, so probably not recommended for very young readers!