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Young Adult Fiction General

Mercury Man

by (author) Tom Henighan

Publisher
Dundurn Press
Initial publish date
May 2004
Category
General, General, Loners & Outcasts
Recommended Age
12 to 15
Recommended Grade
7 to 10
Recommended Reading age
12 to 15
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781550025088
    Publish Date
    May 2004
    List Price
    $12.99
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781554885732
    Publish Date
    May 2004
    List Price
    $8.99

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

Short-listed for the 2006 Red Maple Award Tom Blake is a likeable but shy high school student, who fantasizes about adventure, romance, and discovering "portholes" to the past. Little does he know that all are about to come his way. Tom discovers that a local computer company is conditioning his fellow students for what he suspects is some evil purpose. He soon finds himself up against a corrupt organization with an agenda of genetic experimentation. Mercury Man evokes all the excitement of the best scifi, fantasy, and hero myths while never losing touch with ordinary urban contemporary reality.

About the author

Tom Henighan is the author of 17 published books, including Mercury Man, shortlisted for the Red Maple Award; Viking Quest and Viking Terror, two historical novels set in medieval Canada; and more recently, Demon in My View and Doom Lake Holiday. In 2008 he was awarded the Victor Tolgesy Prize for lifetime contribution to the arts in Ottawa, where he lives.

Tom Henighan's profile page

Awards

  • Short-listed, Red Maple Award

Editorial Reviews

What happens when an ordinary teenager discovers his friends are being brainwashed by a huge computer company? Action and suspense, with some super-heroics thrown in. With Tom Blake, Tom Henighan has created a character that teens will identify with.

Aha Blume, 701.com

Tom Blake, a teen plagued by loneliness and self-doubt, is a Peter Parker (AKA Spiderman) type who discovers his inner superhero in Ottawa author Tom Henighan's second YA novel Mercury Man. Henighan's sci-fi fantasy is an entertaining amalgam of comic book adventure and paranoid high-tech thriller.

Sherie Posesorski, Quill and Quire, October 2004

This is non-stop action.

Resource Links

Who could refuse to read a novel that includes an evil corporation bent on domination of the world's teenagers, comic book superheroes, romance, family problems, a foxy grandpa, and a reluctant savior of his country? What more could a book need to make it a surefire grabber? Canadian Henighan's novel meets all criteria to be an authentic page turner.

... the book is sheer reading fun - a natural choice for all who love stories in which good triumphs over evil, an unlikely hero gets the girl, and superheroes are real.

VOYA

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