The Hunted

In a future world where people live to be 150, humans have paid the price for their longer lives—the cost being their fertility. Children have become a commodity: they are bought and sold, won and lost, and worst of all, are hunted by the "kiddernappers" keen to make a quick buck on a big sale.

When Deet wins Tarrin in a card game he rents him out to childless couples. They pay for Tarrin to play in their houses, and they pretend he's their child for an hour or two. But as Tarrin gets older, Deet is keen to secure his future, and his interest in "The Peter Pan" operation grows. By having "The Peter Pan," Tarrin would stay a boy forever. He would grow old inside the body of a young boy.

While Tarrin faces a difficult dilemma, someone is watching him. Someone who has plans of his own.

Alex Shearer has written more than a dozen books for both adults and children, as well as many successful television series, films, and stage and radio plays. His other books for Macmillan are The Great Blue Yonder, The Stolen, The Speed of the Dark, Bootleg and The Lost. The television dramatisation of BOOTLEG won a BAFTA award for drama in 2003.