'It's not really kidnapping, is it? He'd have to be alive for it to be proper kidnapping.'
Kenny, Sim and Blake are about to embark on a remarkable journey of friendship. Stealing the urn containing the ashes of their best friend Ross, they set out from Cleethorpes on the east coast to travel the 261 miles to the tiny hamlet of Ross in Dumfries and Galloway. After a depressing and dispiriting funeral they feel taking Ross to Ross will be a fitting memorial for a 15 year-old boy who changed all their lives through his friendship. Little do they realise just how much Ross can still affect life for them even though he's now dead.
Drawing on personal experience Keith Gray has written an extraordinary novel about friendship, loss and suicide, and about the good things that may be waiting just out of sight around the corner . . .
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One of the highlights of the year . . . Reminiscent of On the Road and Catcher in the Rye, this is a seminal book about modern youth . . . Humorous, credible and immensely humane, this is a pertinent and profound work, instantly worthy of the label 'modern classic' - The Bookseller
Imbued with warmth and well-placed moments of hilarity...Keith Gray has delivered a truly enjoyable novel that deals with the weighty issues of untimely death and suicide, with an inherent understanding of teenage emotion. - The Bookseller
It is unusual to find a story that takes on the emotional lives of teenage boys, but Keith Gray's Ostrich Boys does so with a light touch. - The Bookseller
Every so often a book comes along and reminds you why became a reviewer in the first place. You find something special and the urge to tell everyone else all about it simply spills out of you. Ostrich Boys is such a book...this book isn't schmaltzy, or saccharine. It's perfect. Right from the title Ostrich Boys inhabits the teenage emotional landscape with unerring precision and great sensitivity... It's beautifully plotted... I'm in awe at the intelligence behind the structure, with little pieces of the puzzle slotting into place at just the right moment. I can't think of a word that was wasted. 5 stars - The Bookbag
Keith Gray is an exceptional writer for teens. In Ostrich Boys he applies his light touch to big themes, as a bunch of 15-year-old youths take revenge on the people who made the life of their friend Ross a misery and then showed up at his funeral. Funny, page-turning and profound. - The Sunday Times
Ostrich Boys is funny and fast-paced, tender but never sentimental. - The Herald
Ostrich Boys is a finely crafted piece of literature, the writing is truly outstanding and the build up of tension as the problems the boys encounter mount up leads to frantic page turning. This really is one of those books you can't put down. - Vulpes Libris
An exceptionally involving and affecting novel - Books for Keeps
Ostrich Boys is a rite of passage tale told with humour, warmth and sensitivity. - Edinburgh Evening News
Ostrich Boys is a rite of passage tale told with humour, warmth and sensitivity. - Aberdeen Evening Express
This is a credible story that could have been, if handled less skilfully, too dark. But Gray, with excellent timing, keeps the plot light and humourous, despite dealing with suicide, loss of friendship and bullying. - The Daily Telegraph
Loss, suicide and teenage angst are dealt with sensitively here, and while it seems like a depressing read to start, this book is full of hope and humour. - The Sunday Tribune
This is a clever book laced with a fair dose of rather dark humour which ultimately sees the surviving trio facing up to some crucial questions about their own lives and motives - Suffolk Free Press
This is a fascinating spooky story you really believe in with an amazing ending. It keeps you on the edge of your seat from the very beginning. - Newcastle Upon Tyne Evening Chronicle
One of those wonderful books that resounds with the kind of emotional truth that makes the best fiction so good. - Story Time Books for Kids
...the whole book is very delicately balanced. There is loss, discussion of the afterlife, romance, adventure, comedy and it's all rolled very neatly into a very credible story. I would highly recommend this book to a teenager. - Soteria Magazine
This recently published novel is quite a delight...Ostrich boys mixes adventure with the intricacies of teenage friendships...the ending is realistic and wonderful rather than predictable and expected. - Chicklish
As Keith well knows, you don't hook a teenage audience with a heavy tome on 'issues'. Which is why Ostrich Boys is light on the preaching and heavy on the cracking tale. - Evening News Edinburgh
What must be one of 2008's most striking and most cleverly plotted young adult novels. - INIS
Humorous, poignant, brilliant - not to be missed. - Bookfest (CBI)
One of the most admirable, affecting and life-affirming books published this year. - The Bookseller
An elegiac rite of passage novel - School House
A brilliantly crafted story of friendship, loss, and the illogocality of the teenage brain! - Carousel
This remarkable, hard-hitting story gives a grim and realistic picture of teenage realities, including betrayal, guilt and suicide. It also, however, conveys the power of adolescent friendship, hope and acceptance of responsibility. - Irish Independent
High adventures in every sense fuel the storyline...but the book's strength is in how Gray darkens the narrative and leaves you wondering if Ross's death was deliberate or accidental...This deeper, serious mood turns an adventure story into something much more. Ostrich Boys deserves its recent shortlisting for a Costa Book Award. - Irish Times
This is a gripping tale of loss, guilt, revenge and redemption and contains touches of gallows humour that will be of particular appeal to the teen audience. Gray has managed to maintain the high standard of his previous work and while this text does not alienate teenage girs it will be of particular appeal to teenage boys. - School Librarian
Ostrich Boys is both hillarious and poignant. - Ham and High Series
Keith Gray touches upon a topic that needs a lot more exposure but with very delicate handling. - Create Readers
There are moments of great humour and moments of unsentimental pathos in the book - Armadillo
In this bittersweet novel, Keith Gray explores the nature of friendship. Do we ever really know what is going on inside the heads and hearts of our friends? What should we do when we see that they are in trouble? Sim, Kenny, Blake and Readers think about these and many other questions as they make their memorable journey. - Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Review
Ostrich Boys is a fast-paced and funny book which had me laughing out loud but there were also some very emotional bits to it which made me cry. I would recommend this book to both boys and girls, particularly boys as the main characters are boys which you don't often read about. - BBC Online Student Life Book Club Reviews
Keith Gray touches upon a topic that needs a lot more exposure but with very delicate handling. The book deals with the subjects of friendship, relationships and death. And although both boys and girls from intermediate onwards would enjoy this book, I think many an adult would find this book a beneficial read. - Blog, National Library of New Zealand
Keith was born and brought up in Grimsby and knew from an early age that he wanted to be a writer. When he received 0% for his accountancy exams he decided to pursue his dream.
Since then, he has gone on to win numerous awards. Rave reviews about his writing have appeared in every broadsheet. Keith was a judge for the Blue Peter Book Award, the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Smarties Prize and the Bookstrust Teen Prize and reviews regularly for the Guardian.
Keith is now a full-time writer living in Edinburgh with his girlfriend and his cockatiel.
