The Card by Graham Rawle (From Worcester News)

The Card by Graham Rawle

1:00pm Wednesday 20th June 2012 in Books

The Card by Graham Rawle is published in hardback by Atlantic books, priced £16.99. Available now.

Bubble gum card collector Riley Richardson has been assigned a coded mission by MI5 to protect the life of Princess Diana. Or so it seems.

The Queen of Hearts playing card, dropped in a deserted alleyway by a mysterious grey-haired man, is Riley's starting point. More cards, and thus more clues, appear. But has Riley got what it takes to decipher the cards correctly?

And will he be able to solve the mystery of the illusive card 19, which has haunted him for 30 years? The answer, as they say, is in the cards.

The Card by Graham Rawle is engaging, thought-provoking, and at times laugh out loud funny. The use of typographical features to highlight parts of the text and Rawle's illustrations of the cards is also visually striking. This story about ephemera is in no way short-lived.

8/10
(Review by Liz Ellis)