Critical Evaluation Of Stone Cold

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Critical Evaluation of ‘Stone Cold’ by Robert Swindells. Stone Cold is a 104-page book by the author Robert Swindells. It was written in 1993. The book is a parallel narrative, one side of the story is about a 16-year-old homeless boy nicknamed Link, the other side is about a crazed serial killer named Shelter. In this evaluation I will go into some depth to explain the good points about the book, and also possible weaknesses in the novel. I will start by first telling you a little more about the story and plot of the book. The story is set in the late 1980s in England. As I mentioned earlier it is a book with parallel narrative, which means it has two stories in it, and both are told alongside each other. So, every couple of pages or so the book switches to the story that you had not just been reading, e.g. from Shelter’s story to Link’s. Link’s a 16-year-old boy who lives in London, on the streets of London to be more precise. The reader finds out a rejected boy who runs away to London after disagreements with his stepfather. There, feeling ostracized, he lives on the streets and befriends an amiable boy called Ginger, an experienced beggar. Link meets Gail, a girl who turns out to be not all she seemed to be. Alongside this, the reader learns of the story of 'Shelter', an ex-sergeant in the army. His story is told in the form of a log-book. Shelter wants to get London rid of homeless people. In his log-book he meticulously plans the way he will kill off all of the homeless. He depicts in detail how he gets the people into his flat before killing them. Their two tales become entwined at towards the end of the book, in a fast paced climax. So, that is basically the plot of the story. Now for the book’s strengths. One of the biggest strengths I think the book has is the reality that the author creates. When reading the

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