This book was given to me at Christmas in 95/6, and I couldnt wait to read it cover to cover! By new year, it was completely finished. It was a really exciting book, and amusingly scary. David Eliot's parents are very eccentric and a very odd couple, and David is the only sane one in the house! We hear about the new friends he makes, and the strange customs at the new school - signing the school contract in blood, and never seeing the headmaster (see the front cover - that's why!) Truly excellent and thoroughly recommended.