Frank Cottrell Boyce - Millions

I had to note the irony that the 2004 Carnegie winner was the one I was reading the day Britain announced it had voted to exit the European Union, when a large part of Millions' plot is based around the UK having become so closely integrated with its European neighbours that we have actually agreed to adapt the Euro as our currency (and even more astonishingly, no one seems to care or even comment about this rather drastic turnaround in the UK's attitude towards the common currency).

The millions of the title is also a tad misleading: our two protagonists, narrator Damian and his older brother Anthony, do discover a huge wodge of money (£229,370, to be precise) but it's not quite the amount the title suggests. Still, the money's all in the old British currency, and will become obsolete before the year is out, leaving our boys with a rather pressing dilemma; how exactly can you spend this much money in such a short amount of time - especially if you don't want to draw the attention of your father, concerned school teachers, or most crucially of all, the train robbers who'd nicked several mill in the first place, and are now hunting high and low for the missing bag of money.

Millions is intended to be a comical, light-hearted read first and foremost - so the threat of the robbers lurks more in the background rather than providing the main thrust of the plot. Even as they get closer to tracking down the boys towards the end, we never feel as though they are going to be in any real danger. More than anything, the book is a humorously drawn and occasionally poignant portrayal of two young lads struggling to come to terms with the loss of their mother not long ago.

Boyce has a sense of humour that has an irresistibly 'Scouse' feel to it - sardonic, sarcastic, but affectionate and able to poke fun at itself and this comes across effortlessly as the book skips merrily on from chapter to chapter - I particularly loved Damian's obsession with Saints and the constant facts and references about them he peppers the story with throughout, and the back-and-forth between Damian and Anthony has a real, well-observed and very amusing brotherly tang to it. The dry humour of Millions is not as easy to pull off as it looks - in fact humour in books is difficult to pull off, full stop - Boyce's success at this is what gives Millions its flavour and likely made it an awards fave throughout 2004.

Millions has a very visual, cinematic feel to it throughout: you can almost hear Damian's voice providing the narration in Chapter One over the opening credits, and many of the book's chapters play out like little scenes. It was no surprise to me to find out that Boyce had actually turned his script from Danny Boyle's 2004 film into the book, rather than vice versa. The main problem I had with the book, apart from the rather episodic feel this 'reverse adaptation' gives it at times, is the ending: too quick, too convenient and left me feeling a bit 'well, what happens next?' It left me feeling that the book was slight and rushed (maybe Boyce wanted it finished and in the shops before the film was released, I don't know), but it could have done with a slower release of the tension built up as the robbers got closer to tracking down the missing money - maybe a switch from humour to a more suspenseful conclusion would have worked better too, or it may have been a step too far for Boyce to be able to change tack at that point and work it into the plot convincingly.

Millions is a nice little story and wittier for any reader of any age than a book for this age range could really be intended to be, but that sense of disappointment as I closed the book lingers. Fun, but ultimately forgetful in the long run.