First off, and I'm not going to lie, I don't like Radio 2. I don't necessarily dislike the people that present on Radio 2, I just don't like the station, and it was a great surprise to me when I picked up the first Itch book in a supermarket and found out that it was by the Simon Mayo, Drivetime host on Radio 2. I read it, then read the second one. And when Guardian Children's books sent this one through to me, I was overjoyed. Overjoyed right through until I wrote this review.
The book in question is the third book, Itchcraft. Itchingham Lofte, if you haven't read the first three books, is a science mad 15 year-old who is six feet tall and an outsider because his family have moved from London to Cornwall to be with their family. Coupled with an inspirational geography teacher with no dress-sense called John Watkins, they all make a really admirable group of characters. Itch is handed a new element, 126, later to be called Lofteium (Lt), that turns out to be dangerously radioactive. He buries it in a well in Brighton, but because of nutty Nathaniel Flowerdew who used to work for Greencorps, he is watched constantly by MI5 right up until he destroys the 126 by spallation at the ISIS labs. Itchcraft begins as Itch, Chloe and Nicholas arrive in South Africa on holiday, and they are in a freak radioactive accident. When they get back, Itch, his school, a worker at the ISIS labs and his old geography teacher are the victim of parcel bombs from Flowerdew, and it unfortunately claims the life of John Watkins. They return to be told they are to go on a school trip to the science museum in Spain, and with it entails a whirlwind series of events where the economy collapses in Spain due to picric acid causing the notes to combust and Chloe and Jack (Jack being his cousin) are kidnapped. His family go to Spain in an attempt to find them, and Itch is certain he knows who's behind it.
Very few books leave me with a sense of admiration after I have read them. It may just be because I'm a fantastically eccentric science geek, but I guarantee you that it shows that Simon Mayo has put it a tonne of effort into researching the knowledge that his well-portrayed characters display. The choice of vocabulary is flawless, and is a stunning conclusion to Itch's tale of the trilogy. The settings are well researched, and I do not know whether Simon did travel to the proposed settings to write this book, but it showed that the effort was there.
This book is certainly not for immature readers because of the presence of more choice words as the characters have obviously aged during the stories. The presence of them are few, which is why it should present no problem, but they are still there.
Like I said, it's a stunning conclusion to the trilogy, but if it isn't a trilogy, I itch for more (sorry, I had to use that pun there).
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop
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