Review- The Dead Of The Night By John Marsden

Warning: plot spoiler ahead

The dead of the night by John Marsden is the second book in the seven part Tomorrow series that deals with eight teenagers stuck in the middle of a war.

John Marsden has managed to create powerful yet ordinary characters in this series and put them in a war situation where each character reacts differently, so as we can empathise with at least one of them. The series, stripped down bit by bit is practically about survival and the human spirit.

These books allow us to empathise with war-stricken countries as the war in the books is set in rural Australia. We see what Ellie sees, we feel what Ellie feels and understand more about the world around us. It's easy to sympathise, but until we experience things, we can't understand it fully.

Plot:

Kevin and Corrie (after Corrie being shot in the back) still haven't returned but the group continues to plan attacks on the invaders. After killing several soldiers, the group return and decide to explore more of Hell but come across an important factor: Who will stay back to mind Hell? Chris, the misunderstood person in the group, volunteers to stay and the five other friends are happy to leave him there. In the back of her mind, Ellie feels that leaving Chris alone may be the wrong thing to do. She has noticed that Chris drinks a lot, smokes a lot and keeps to himself more than what is healthy. Ellie does admire his creativity though. Chris writes deep poems in his notebooks and has a deep, complex mind.

Ellie and her friends follow the river in Hell to a cliff. It is very steep and they all climb down it reluctantly. Exploring the forest under the cliff, the group find another guerrilla group calling themselves "Harvey's Heroes" after their leader; Major Harvey.

Ellie soon finds that Major Harvey looks down at her group and thinks nothing of their 'supposed attacks'. Major Harvey keeps the group at the camp and makes the girls do labour jobs while they are separated from the boys. Although Ellie and Major Harvey don't get along, Ellie is happy that the adults there can make decisions for her and that she is free of that burden. Ellie soon finds out that even though "Harvey's Heroes" is comprised of trained adults, they are less cunning than Ellie's group. Major Harvey boastes about his attacks, but they turn out to be nothing more than cowardly sabotages on abandoned vehicles.

Harvey's troops come across an abandoned truck and plan to attack it, not knowing that it is a trap set by the enemy. Ellie and her friends come along, but when they see other soldiers with guns, Ellie cries out and the onlookers are discovered. She dashes through the forest and on to the campsite which is under attack as well. Ellie manages to escape all this and waits for her friends at the foot of the cliff they climbed to get there.

The friends turn up after hours of waiting and they all climb the cliff up to Hell. Unfortunately, when Ellie is almost at the top, she falls and destroys her fingers grabbing on to the rock wall. She then finds the strength to keep on going and this time accepts help from Homer.

Ellie and her friends return to camp only to find Chris missing, so they go to search for him in Wirawee. While in Wirawee, the group find out the invaders are using their prisoners as slaves to clean up the district before the settlers come. They also find out that Major Harvey (the leader of "Harvey's Heroes") is providing the enemy with information. The friends decide to stay a few nights in Wirawee, watching Turner Street from the church.

Ellie and friends keep an eye on Turner street and find out how it works. They discover that it is a major base for important military personel. The group then discover that Major Harvey himself is staying in one of the houses. They decide to attack it so Harvey cannot keep prosecuting people. On the last night, they sneak in houses and leave the gas on. Half an hour later, they set up faulty toasters and blow the houses to smithereens hoping to kill Major Harvey.

On the way back to hell after watching the spectacular explosions, the group decides to stock up on supplies. But when they travel out of one of the houses, they find the body of Chris who was killed by rolling a car while he was drunk. The friends load Chris into the back of the car and sadly head into Hell where they bury him. Ellie regrets leaving Chris alone in Hell while she and her friends ventured out.

"...I can hear Homer snoring, Fi calling out in her sleep, Lee wriggling into a new position, Robyn breathing steadily. I love these four people. And that's why i feel bad about Chris. I didn't love him enough..." Extract from The Dead Of The Night by John Marsden, Macmillan, 1994

John Marsden wonderfully describes not only the situation but also the emotions and effects of the war. I give this novel a 10 out of 10.