Tom Burne Has Left the Chat

A moving, thoughtful and insightful debut novel from Sean Farrelly. When teenager Jamie spies a kerfuffle happening outside a café while eating the world's worst scone with his doctor mum, they both rush out to see what is going on. What they find stuns Jamie, who discovers a mobile phone belonging to the person who has taken their own life nearby. Jamie doesn't mean to keep to the phone, but he feels he was meant to find it. And now he has he is determined to uncover the truth about what happened to Tom Burne and what led him to take his own life - and the phone could hold the answers. Yet the more he delves into the digital detritus of Tom world, trying to piece together events, people and evidence, the darker life gets for Jamie, as events start to trigger memories of his dad's recent passing and his mental health spirals out of control.

What an incredible moving and powerful novel with heart-breaking moments. I was intrigued from the start and Sean's writing just pulled me into the story and Jamie's attempt to investigate the life of Tom Burne. The story is told mostly by Jamie with extracts from Tom's phone - messages, notes and ReelLife app video descriptions, placed between chapters. These help give an insight into what Jamie is investigating, and make the reader feel more part of the story and his detective work.

The novel does highlight several difficult issues, handling them sensitively and honestly, for example, Jamie dealing with his dad's death, changing friendships, parental pressure, exam stress and teenage mental health. These are pressures some teens have to deal with and reading about them may help those teens realise they are not along and to reach out for help.

Some of the chapters gave a touching back story to his dad and Jamie's relationship which touches on how their roles almost reversed as his dad became ill. The digital content that Jamie explores on Tom's phone is fascinating and certainly had me thinking about my digital footprint and the impact of social media on people, which is a very topical theme at the moment.

Though dealing with serious issues there are is much joy and humour, too, and the name that Jamie's of friends had - 'The Nerd Herd' - was inspired and I'd definitely be part of that group!

I really recommend this novel to both teens and adults. Brilliantly written with a great voice, an intriguing storyline and topical issues, it is told with humour, thought and realism. Tom Burne Has Left the Chat also makes you wonder - can you really get to know the true person from their online presence? Join Jamie and find out.

352 pages / Reviewed by Stephen Leitch, school librarian

Suggested Reading Age 14+

A touching YA debut about grief, mental health and acceptance and the role our digital lives have to play in them.

Jamie Finnerty is in the wrong place at the wrong time when burgeoning teenage social media star Tom Burke takes his own life. Without thinking, Jamie grabs Tom's discarded phone and begins an unnerving delve into his online life. Circumnavigating the phone's passcode via the RealLife app, he finds himself immersed in Tom's digital landscape and privy to information that could shed light on Tom's untimely death.

All the while, Jamie is battling his own demons - dealing with his Dad's death, changes in his friendship group and a potential move abroad. Somehow Tom's Life and his seem to overlap and Jamie begins to see a way to confront his own issues as well as laying Tom's ghost to rest.

Tom Burne Has Left the Chat is an incredibly tender story told with an authentic teenage voice. The confusion of adolescence, the burdens of family, school and expectation are all examined and it's a genuinely interesting exploration of how online lives can have a momentum of their own. Told with great heart and humour, this is a moving read about our real and online selves, and the legacies we leave behind.

333 Pages / Reviewed by Clare Wilkins, school librarian

Suggested Reading Age 14+