Older Readers (12-16 years) Shortlist

About the book

At eight o'clock in the evening, on Monday 24th December 2007, Pinewood Military Installation exploded. The blast ripped apart acres of forest and devastated the remote highland valley where the base was located. No official cause was given for the incident. Inside Pinewood were 185 male and female military personnel - a mixture of scientists and soldiers. There were also seven teenagers there. This is the story of their last day ...

What the shortlist judges said:

"I love this book, it is wildly exciting, deeply thought provoking and completely absorbing - a real page turner."

About the author

Dundee-born Jan-Andrew Henderson has written, directed and put on plays in his spare time through his adult life. In 1998 he set up one of the largest ghost tour companies in Scotland. It runs history tours of the Royal Mile and ghost tours of the graveyard. A year later he began writing non-fiction. Jan is an authority on 'spooky' Scotland. After the birth of his son, he moved on to writing children's fiction producing three books in three years. He sees it as a 'step up' from his previous non-fiction titles, and the direction he wants to take as an author. There is no ghostly goings on in his latest book Bunker 10, but there are plenty of explosions in this high octane, action packed adventure story. Read more about Jan ...

Go back to Royal Mail Awards shortlist page