Nicholas Dane by Melvin Burgess

I have been a fan of Melvin Burgess since the year I read The Earth Giant back in 1995.  The following year he came out with Junk, which made him one of Britian's most important voices for young adult readers and propelled him onto the world stage. He followed up with Tiger Tiger, and blew me away with that one too.  I don't know how he does it, but Burgess just seems to have his finger on the heartbeat of edginess in the UK.  The thing is, his books are often dark, but they are always page turners.  I gather he's done it again with his newest book, Nicholas Dane.  The story focuses on a kid who ends up in the foster system through no fault of his own and endures horrific abuse.  It's apparently based on a group of kids who ended up suing the British government once they got old enough to get out of the system, so like many of  Burgess' books, there is a grain of truth at the heart of this story.  This ones sounds pretty dark though, but I know that in Melvin Burgess hands, this will be a story that will be as compelling as it is difficult to read.