News for 'Pretty Bad Things'

C.J. Skuse was born in 1980 in Weston-super-Mare, England. She has first-class degrees in Creative Writing and Writing for Children and, aside from writing novels, works as a freelance children’s fiction consultant and lectures in Writing for Children at Bath Spa University. C.J. loves: Masterchef, Gummy Bears and murder sites. She hates: carnivals, hard-boiled eggs and coughing.

The movies Titanic, My Best Friend’s Wedding and Ruby Sparks were all probably based on her ideas; she just didn't get to write them down in time. Before she dies, she would like to go to Japan, try clay-pigeon shooting and have Ryan Gosling present her with the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Twins Paisley and Beau Argent are in the headlines again. Last time, they were the 'wonder twins', when, as six-year-olds, they were found alive in the woods after three days missing following their mother’s death – three days spent looking for their dad.

Now, at 16, life’s not so wonderful. Cast out and exploited by their money-grabbing grandmother, they’re still clueless about their dad’s whereabouts. Until they discover an old letter from him.

That’s when they decide to hit the road – and make headlines again. Holding up fast-food joints in Las Vegas might seem extreme, but if they can get on the news, and tell their dad they need him, they might just get the dream reunion they never thought could happen.

Billed as a darkly comic ‘Tarantino for teens’, this is a fast, fearless and funny first novel from C.J. Skuse.