Hero by Perry Moore

I grabbed this at work, while wondering if I should catalogue it as a children’s book or as a Young Adult. In the end, I figured it mentions sex, I’ll go with YA^[1] and after reading it I think I was right.

The book is the story of Thom Creed, a young wannabe superhero. But he is superhero with a secret. He is also gay. Although it really isn’t much of a secret. He never tells us if he outed himself at some point prior to the novel beginning, but everyone, apart from his Dad seems to know that he is gay from the beginning.

It is slightly predictable. You can see the twists coming, and you aren’t ever surprised by anything that happens in the book. But at the same time it isn’t terrible. The writing is adequate and the plot works. And I liked Thom, even if he is self-centred and melodramatic. It is a world of superheroes and teenagers though, maybe melodrama and selfishness are a necessary part :)

This isn’t a book that will set your world on fire, and I doubt I’d ever be bothered to reread, but it is entertaining enough. And I liked the little nods to superheroes that we might already be familiar with, Justice and Warrior Woman, I’m looking at you two.