gorgeous blonde double-agent; the bomb in the snack bar, the rescue of the kids from the daycare centre …
A sharp pain from the commander’s boot slamming into Blake’s ribs brought him out of his daydream.
‘Say your prayers!’ Monsolet barked. ‘Nobody has ever left this prison except in a wooden box.’
Blake Romano glanced up at Monsolet’s steely eyes and smiled.
‘There’s always a first time for
everything, birdbrain,’ he said.
Then, with the speed of lightning, Blake
‘Oh oh oh!’ Selby squealed in his brain. ‘I can’t wait to see what happens next! This is
soooo
exciting!’
As Selby’s eyes darted across to the right-hand page, he found himself gazing at the inside of the back cover of the book.
‘Oh no! The last page is missing! How am I supposed to know what happens in the end? It’s the last page of the last book of the whole series! I have to know if Blake Romano survives!’
Selby raced around the house, looking everywhere for the missing page.
‘Maybe I dropped it,’ he thought. ‘Where have I been since I started reading it? I haven’t been anywhere! I got it off the shelf in thebookcase where Dr Trifle keeps all his old Blake Romano books and I read it right here.’
Selby lifted the lounge and then checked behind the curtains.
‘I can’t believe it,’ he thought. ‘I’ve just got to know what happens. Lionel O’Neill wouldn’t have let his main character die, I’m sure. But
Escape Into Doom
was his very last book. Maybe it’s the end of Blake Romano, too.’
Selby put the book back on the shelf.
‘I’ll make up my own ending,’ he thought. ‘I don’t want Blake to die, so maybe the last bit should be,
Then, with the speed of lightning, Blake lived happily ever after. The end.
No, that doesn’t sound right. How about,
Then, with the speed of lightning, Blake was shot by Fridas Monsolet and he dropped dead. The end.
No! No! I have to find out how the book really ends.’
Selby rang the Bogusville Library and then the Poshfield Library and even some other libraries in the city. None of them had any of Lionel O’Neill’s Blake Romano books. Then he rang a bookshop.
‘Lionel O’Neill?’ a woman said. ‘We don’t have any books by anyone of that name. Let mecheck the computer. I’ll see if we can order a copy for you.’
‘He’s a fantastic author. He writes about Blake Romano, who is like this top super-special secret agent who gets captured by bad guys and he always gets away and that, but sometimes he gets hurt, but a lot of the bad guys get killed, and they’re really great books. I just have to get a copy of
Escape Into Doom
’cause I don’t know how it ends.’
‘I’m sorry,’ the woman said,‘but the books are out of print. They don’t make them any more.’
And that was that. No last page. No last book. No copies of the book in libraries. No copies in bookshops or even used ones on the internet. Selby did a search to see what he could find out about the author.
‘I can’t believe this,’ Selby thought. ‘Everything about him is secret. Nobody even knows what Lionel O’Neill looks like. He’s like a secret agent, just like Blake Romano.’
The days passed but Selby couldn’t get
Escape Into Doom
out of his head.
‘Okay, so Blake was chained to the floor and there were all these guys with guns. It wouldhave been impossible to get away. Of course, that’s what I thought before he escaped from all the crocodiles in
Fear Factor Zero
. I loved that book.’
Selby quickly found the book and opened it to the page about the escape.
The crocodile’s jaws came closer and closer to Blake’s legs, clicking like the sound of castanets on a hot day in Spain. Ebony Boyne sat safely behind the barrier, smiling as she filed her fingernails.
‘Sorry we couldn’t have another
breakfast together, Blake,’ she said. ‘I enjoyed your company.’
‘Likewise,’ Blake said. ‘But now some friends of mine would like to have you to
A sharp pain from the commander’s boot slamming into Blake’s ribs brought him out of his daydream.
‘Say your prayers!’ Monsolet barked. ‘Nobody has ever left this prison except in a wooden box.’
Blake Romano glanced up at Monsolet’s steely eyes and smiled.
‘There’s always a first time for
everything, birdbrain,’ he said.
Then, with the speed of lightning, Blake
‘Oh oh oh!’ Selby squealed in his brain. ‘I can’t wait to see what happens next! This is
soooo
exciting!’
As Selby’s eyes darted across to the right-hand page, he found himself gazing at the inside of the back cover of the book.
‘Oh no! The last page is missing! How am I supposed to know what happens in the end? It’s the last page of the last book of the whole series! I have to know if Blake Romano survives!’
Selby raced around the house, looking everywhere for the missing page.
‘Maybe I dropped it,’ he thought. ‘Where have I been since I started reading it? I haven’t been anywhere! I got it off the shelf in thebookcase where Dr Trifle keeps all his old Blake Romano books and I read it right here.’
Selby lifted the lounge and then checked behind the curtains.
‘I can’t believe it,’ he thought. ‘I’ve just got to know what happens. Lionel O’Neill wouldn’t have let his main character die, I’m sure. But
Escape Into Doom
was his very last book. Maybe it’s the end of Blake Romano, too.’
Selby put the book back on the shelf.
‘I’ll make up my own ending,’ he thought. ‘I don’t want Blake to die, so maybe the last bit should be,
Then, with the speed of lightning, Blake lived happily ever after. The end.
No, that doesn’t sound right. How about,
Then, with the speed of lightning, Blake was shot by Fridas Monsolet and he dropped dead. The end.
No! No! I have to find out how the book really ends.’
Selby rang the Bogusville Library and then the Poshfield Library and even some other libraries in the city. None of them had any of Lionel O’Neill’s Blake Romano books. Then he rang a bookshop.
‘Lionel O’Neill?’ a woman said. ‘We don’t have any books by anyone of that name. Let mecheck the computer. I’ll see if we can order a copy for you.’
‘He’s a fantastic author. He writes about Blake Romano, who is like this top super-special secret agent who gets captured by bad guys and he always gets away and that, but sometimes he gets hurt, but a lot of the bad guys get killed, and they’re really great books. I just have to get a copy of
Escape Into Doom
’cause I don’t know how it ends.’
‘I’m sorry,’ the woman said,‘but the books are out of print. They don’t make them any more.’
And that was that. No last page. No last book. No copies of the book in libraries. No copies in bookshops or even used ones on the internet. Selby did a search to see what he could find out about the author.
‘I can’t believe this,’ Selby thought. ‘Everything about him is secret. Nobody even knows what Lionel O’Neill looks like. He’s like a secret agent, just like Blake Romano.’
The days passed but Selby couldn’t get
Escape Into Doom
out of his head.
‘Okay, so Blake was chained to the floor and there were all these guys with guns. It wouldhave been impossible to get away. Of course, that’s what I thought before he escaped from all the crocodiles in
Fear Factor Zero
. I loved that book.’
Selby quickly found the book and opened it to the page about the escape.
The crocodile’s jaws came closer and closer to Blake’s legs, clicking like the sound of castanets on a hot day in Spain. Ebony Boyne sat safely behind the barrier, smiling as she filed her fingernails.
‘Sorry we couldn’t have another
breakfast together, Blake,’ she said. ‘I enjoyed your company.’
‘Likewise,’ Blake said. ‘But now some friends of mine would like to have you to
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