This is a rather remarkable debut novel from this Australian writer. It's quirky, funny, well-written, and often gripping.
The anonymous 11-year-old narrator has lost his twin brother in an "exploring" accident in their Melbourne suburb. As if to make up for it he embarks on enough adventures for twoboys - and even more.
He witnesses a murder, apprehends a kidnapper (whom he sees set fire to the hair of the kidnapped boy), sees a young boy stabbed in the legs by his blind and drunken mother, watches two policemen throw a body into the river, explores tunnels and drains, is pursued by the killer and survives several dangerous scrapes.
That's only half of it. It's all well OTT, of course, but thoroughly entertaining, as are several of the characters - especially his irascible grandfather who has betting and extortion as sidelines, his absent (with another woman) father, his worrying mother and assorted aunts and friends.
The title refers to the boy becoming a drawer of maps and charts and routes - to better enable him, as a self-styled superhero, to learn where he has to go to satisfy his curiosity and sense of adventure.
There is only one, mild, criticism of this book - it's just a bit too long.
