Boyband of the Apocalypse

Tom Nicoll's Boyband of the Apocalypse is a silly, fast and very funny story for 9 year olds about a boy who finds out the world's biggest boyband is plotting the end of the world.

What happens

Sam only goes to the Apocalips concert because his parents promised him a phone if he took his little sister Lexi and her friend. That's the deal. He doesn't even like the band.

It goes wrong fast. The Heatherstone quadruplets, four identical girls who make his school life a misery, lock him in a storeroom. Through a hole in the wall he can see straight into the band's dressing room. And he watches four of them get rid of their lead singer in a ball of fire, because he wouldn't help with their plan to end the world.

The official story? Steve's gone solo. The country goes into mourning (the prime minister declares a week of mourning, so Sam gets a week off school).

Nobody believes Sam except his best friend Milo. Milo has a theory that ALL boybands are evil to some degree, and a plan. Sam has to audition to join the band and find out what they're up to. There's just one problem. He can't sing. He can't dance either. His only stage experience is playing the back end of a donkey in the nativity.

This is a proper giggle to read. Sam narrates, and he cracks jokes whenever he's in danger (he admits it's a rubbish defence mechanism). Milo is deadpan and brilliant. Their parents are two accountants in matching grey suits who barely look up when Lexi drags Sam upstairs in a sack.

There's a running joke about the band's truly awful lyrics too, and Milo takes them very seriously. You'll be reading bits out loud.

A heads-up for younger or more sensitive readers. The singer's fiery end happens on the page in the first chapter, with screams you can hear through the flames. It's quick and it's played for comedy, but it's a real disappearance, not a special effect. The Heatherstones are properly menacing too.

If your reader loves the idea of an ordinary, slightly hopeless kid being the only one who can save the world, they'll lap this up. It's great for anyone who likes their adventures daft.

What to read next

If they enjoy Tom Nicoll's jokey style, try Level Up. Flo ignores a whole trail of warning signs in her mum's workshop and ends up zapped inside her favourite video game, with her best friend Max dragged in alongside her.