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True crime buff Gus Green has always felt out of place in the world. He's overweight, gay, his injured mum's primary carer, and he only has two real friends: sporty Kane and feisty Shell, who are both dealing with their own problems.
Gus's life is flipped on its head one day when he finds a missing persons website with a digitally aged picture of a missing boy who looks eerily like him. Could he be a kidnapping victim? It would explain a lot about his patchy background, but what would that make his mum - his kidnapper?
As Gus and his friends dive into the mystery, their investigation reveals more questions than answers. Can they unravel the case before his world falls apart? And what will they do if the truth is too much to handle?
Author: Troy Hunter
Paperback Published March 2024 242 pages
Read and Recommended by Graeme:
"This YA mystery novel features teenage sleuths but is certainly sophisticated and gritty enough to satisfy an adult reader. In fact, it has been shortlisted for the 2024 Ned Kelly Debut Crime Fiction Award alongside various adult novels! The mystery at the heart of ‘Gus’ is extremely compelling. Teenager Gus Green’s has career ambitions to be a detective and he and his best friend Shell are captivated by true crime blogs and podcasts. While scrolling through a missing person’s website he is stopped in his tracks by a digitally aged photograph of a boy who went missing at age three. The photo of how the child would look now is startlingly similar to Gus! There are other factors which also strengthen the case - his mother has no baby photos of Gus and birth certificate is missing. Asking his widowed mother brings no satisfactory answers. So Gus decides to investigate, aided by Shell and his other close friend Kane, the sports jock who lives next-door. The three take a road trip to the scene of the crime and question the various suspects, pretending it is for a school project. Characterisation is strong and the three young investigators all have their own issues they are dealing with. Gus in particular has a lot going on - he is overweight, gay, anxious, prone to self-harm, and following the death of his father is his mother’s main support. Shell is rebelling against the feminine ideals her mother is trying to impose on her and questioning her gender identity. While Kane is questioning his direction after an injury derails his footy ambitions. The plotting is strong and ultimately the mystery unfolds with some surprising twists, coming to a satisfying climax and conclusion."
'Page-turning mystery fun that is meta-AF, full of wit and self-discovery. Loved it!' - R.W.R. McDonald, author of The Nancys series
'Gus and the Missing Boy takes whodunnit stories up a notch, weaving the core tenets of young adult books in with the tropes of a detective novel, creating a great story that examines the mysteries of identity, family and friendship.' - Michael Earp, author and editor of Everything Under the Moon: Fairy Tales in a Queerer Light (2023) and Kindred: 12 Queer #LoveOzYA Stories (2019)