A review by goldenbooksgirl
Boy Underwater by Adam Baron

4.0

This focuses on a young boy called Cymbeline, as his first ever visit to the swimming pool ends in disaster and causes his mum to have to be admitted to hospital. Cymbeline is incredibly confused by his life completely changing as he can`t work out why his mum was so affected by him going to the pool or why she`s kept him away from them his entire life, so as he grapples with changing friendships and being sent to stay with rich, rather uncaring relatives, he decides he must investigate and solve these mysteries. Cymbeline is a phenomenal narrator; he`s charming, funny and hugely engaging, and I couldn`t have rooted for him any more as I really wanted everything to turn out okay for him in the end. I also adored ultra-intelligent Veronique, his new neighbour, as well as the humour provided by his best friend Lance. The relationships between them seemed authentic, and I liked how it showed the way friendships can go through rough patches but be repaired. The mystery of why Cymbeline`s mum is so wary of water felt very different to mysteries I`ve read before, which are typically focused on a crime rather than the history of a family, and I thought it was clever and surprising, as my theory ended up being wrong. 4.5/5