He had a varied working life, with jobs in a crematorium, a zoo, a garage and a post office, before - happily - giving it all up to write books. Kevin Brooks was born in Exeter and studied in Birmingham and London. Amanda Craig, The Times Kevin Brooks has won the Branford Boase Award and been shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Award, the Booktrust Teenage Prize, the Manchester Book Award and for the Carnegie Medal (for Martyn Pig, Road of the Dead and Black Rabbit Summer). Praise for The Bunker Diary: pacey plots. What's he going to do to me? What am I going to do? If I'm right, the lift will come down in five minutes. There are six little rooms along the main corridor. A low-ceilinged rectangular building made entirely of whitewashed concrete.

As soon as my eyes opened I knew where I was. It was still dark when I woke up this morning. Room meets Lord of the Flies, The Bunker Diary is award-winning, young adult writer Kevin Brooks's pulse-pounding exploration of what happens when your worst nightmare comes true - and how will you survive? I can't believe I fell for it. But be warned: with frequent swearing, and scenes of violence, torture and death, this is not a book for the faint-hearted.WINNER OF THE 2014 CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL. With believable, although not always likable, characters, Brooks makes us share the terror, confusion and claustrophobia they experience, and feel emotionally invested in their survival. This is the sort of book that demands to be read in one sitting, only to haunt you for days after finishing it. Pushed to the limits of human endurance with constant physical and mental torture, how long will the six survive being the playthings of their captor? Linus’ theory that he has been kidnapped for ransom is soon dismissed as the lift delivers five more prisoners, from completely different walks of life, with absolutely nothing in common. The only way in and out of the bunker is a lift, controlled by whoever has captured him. The last thing he remembers is helping a blind man get his case into the back of a van. Linus wakes up in a cold, dark, underground bunker with no recollection of how he got there.

The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks