About the Book:

Written by a thirteen-year-old author, this exciting and captivating page-turner transports you into the fascinating story of sixteen-year-old aspiring singer Fiona Watson who runs away from her family, oblivious to the dangers outside her shielded comfort zone. As she journeys through her new world, leaving her past behind and determined to find a new identity, she uncovers surprising secrets buried deep within her long ago…

How do her new friends link to her past? What secrets are they hiding behind their misleading smiles? How much of herself has she really left behind? And how will she cope when she realises that she has made a huge mistake… one that could ruin her forever?

My Thoughts:

Legal Crime is a YA Fiction debut novel written by 13 year old Samiksha Bhattacharjee. For this, I have to commend her and say how proud I am of the book and her efforts to write it. As you read, you will find out the meaning behind the title as the book progresses!

The story follows Fiona, a sixteen year old teenager who runs away from home and tries to make it on her own. The first step in her plan is to disguise herself and then find shelter. The story is written in sections, as Fiona changes her identity and tries to blend in, hiding from her parents and the police. The author tries to highlight the different phases of her journey in different sections, showing us how she handles the different hurdles she encounters.

We meet many new people, many old ones from Fiona’s childhood whom she has forgotten about, and many who want her out of the way. She soon realizes that being on your own is more difficult than it looks. Life is not so glamorous. With the help of her friends, she also becomes a YouTube singing sensation and gets to perform on stage with a famous singer. Amongst all this, we see a girl who is dealing with peer pressure, trying to live up to an image and expectations that make her change who she is. She finally learns to respect the bonds of family, friendship and to trust in the people around her.

Now let us take a look at the plot. It is strong enough to carry forward through the book. However, there are some minor gaps that make it a little hard to place the events and people. The characters are well thought out, but once again, we miss some of their background and the development that leads to where they are. Also, there are some jumps back and forth in time which take a little getting used to.

However, all this does not take away from the fact that Samiksha has done a great job. It is not easy to write a story and definitely not so easy to handle as many characters as she has. The writing feels personal and more relatable considering that the entire story is written like diary entries. Though the writing is a little amateurish, I think Samiksha has amazing potential. The concepts she has chosen to handle in this book are pertinent and take a lot of effort to write about. Samiksha has managed to handle all of this delicately and in a very mature way which is amazing for a thirteen year old! Way to go!