THE YEAR OF THE GADFLY
Jennifer Miller, Text, A$29.95
Year of the Gadfly.The scene is the hothouse environment of a fiercely competitive US private school. The kids have wits and adolescent angst. They are also disturbed, as are some of the ''adults''. Enter Iris, a teen who hopes to emulate the Cold War journalist Edward R. Murrow. She finds plenty to investigate. The school was founded on high principles, but is scandal-ridden and deeply unhappy. The book is very intelligent and dark, but does not wholly sustain credibility.
BLACK WATTLE CREEK
Geoffrey McGeachin, Viking, A$29.95


McGeachin won the Ned Kelly Award for the first book in this historical police procedural series. Set in Melbourne in 1957, memories of WWII linger, but the Cold War creates new crises. Series detective Berlin has his issues, but he does his work and enjoys his family. Then his uneasy calm is disturbed by the theft of body parts from funeral homes. Whodunit and why? One for historical-crime fans and Melburnians.
COLONEL GADDAFI'S HAT
Alex Crawford, Collins, A$24.99


When Libya deposed Colonel Gaddafi, Alex Crawford was there. The Sky News reporter followed the rebels, showing true grit and no vanity, appearing in hard hat and flak jacket on screens all over the world. This vivid memoir tells the story behind those images. Crawford and her team sneaked into rebel strongholds, talked to those on the front line and suffered bombardments with them. A strong tale, simply and effectively told.

BOOK THAT CHANGED ME: Doug MacLeod

GUMPHLUMPH
Stratford Johns
This was the first ''proper'' novel I read from cover to cover. It was about a friendly two-headed alien visitor to Earth, and I borrowed it from the library because I liked the purple cover. I started writing endless stories in the style of Johns' masterwork, until my year 2 English teacher told me, sweetly, that I should make up my own characters, maybe ones with fewer heads.
Doug MacLeod is a Melbourne young-adult author and former television writer for Fast Forward and Sea Change. His latest book is The Shiny Guys, Penguin, A$17.95.