Our hero lives with his widowed mother, his widowed grandfather and the cat called 'Tugboat', in a town an hour and a half from Brisbane, which he refers to it as 'Quagmire' because you can never get out. He attends his local high school, that he calls the 'School of Woe and Torture' (SOWAT) which is referenced throughout the book, as is Quagmire. 

His long-term 'girl' friend, called 'Moonflower' is leaving the school because her parents are sending her to a private school so Thunderhead and Moonflower will only be able to see each other in the evenings and at weekends. He has no other friends at school and spends his lunchtime eating a sandwich perched on a closed seat in the toilet - eew!

On his computer, he has found a derelict online forum which, by its very description, has no longer has any visitors. That's the way he likes it. It is empty, like an abyss and so he calls it Abby and starts unloading all his thoughts and adventures, merging into a diary. 

Each chapter starts with a five song playlist on the theme of each post. I don't know many of these songs. I know a lot about music, but the author appears to know more than I do, for which I have a great respect. Included in the book are the names of two obscure musicians, Nick Drake and Connie Converse, which impressed me even more.

Thunderhead is influenced by his late grandmother's joy of '60s and '70s vinyl music and he includes tracks from them in his playlists throughout the book.

However, he is obsessed with a current singer/songwriter called 'Bin Night' and devotes a large amount of his posts to her and her music. He even writes a quote from one of her songs on his school bag, "Be brave, Darling, the stars will APPLAUD for you".

During this time, 'Moonflower' has made friends at her new school and introduces Thunderhead to theme but their relationship is strained.

Back at school, Shannon, a girl in his class who he despises, mainly because of her horrible taste in music, is obsessed with a boy band called "Sugar Crash", starts speaking to him. They agree to disagree about their musical taste.

He plays the clarinet in the school orchestra and finds that Shannon plays the violin in the orchestra and her friend, Evie, plays viola. Evie is obsessed with musical theatre, which he doesn't like, either. 
However, despite these differences, they start becoming friendly towards each other. 

At this time, he starts introducing his biggest problem. He has been diagnosed with two benign tumours. These are growing on each of his auditory nerves, the nerves that connect his ears to his brain. A large one in his right ear, he calls Reginald and a small one in his left ear, he calls Reggie. 
The author is writing this account of his ear malady, and subsequent operation, from a position of authority. She suffered the same disease and went through the same operation in 2017.

His family are making regular trips to hospital with him for tests and deciding on a way forward. He is under the impression that he will become profoundly deaf and his life will be over because he will no longer be able to listen to music. To find out how this all pans out, you have to read this book.

It is an amazingly engrossing book and I noticed that Thunderhead is becoming more mature and grown up as the book proceeds to its conclusion with at the risk of being a spoiler, with a lot more activity in the storyline.

The only disappointment is the way in which the author started introducing Americanisms into her predominantly Australian text. Words such as inside and outside do not need the word "of" in after them. That is implied in the sentence. Somehow Americans have grown to need the phrase "inside of", "outside of".

Although written for middle grade/early teens, I am happy to  recommend this book to adults. As an adult, I found it fascinating, complex, compassionate, moving and ponderous. As a music lover, I found it educational, emotional, inspiring and with a spirit of kinship.

The Author

Sophie Beer is an award-winning illustrator and author, has illustrated for many authors and publications as well as on her own numerous books. Beer has sold close to a million books, in many languages, all over the world. She rejoices in creating bright, funny books that centre equality, inclusion and kindness.  In 2016, Sophie was diagnosed with and underwent surgery for an acoustic neuroma, a brain tumour that affects balance, the facial nerve and hearing, and she is subsequently hard of hearing. Thunderhead, her first novel, was inspired by this transformative event.

Reviewed by Ken