The If Game by Catherine Storr.

From Amazon

What if ...? Stephen is bursting with questions. What if his mother was still around? What if he knew what had happened to her? What if his father would just tell him the truth? Then he starts finding keys - keys which lead him through secret doors, into a strange world where he doesn't recognize anyone, but everyone seems to know him. Perhaps he can find out what he wants to know in the world behind the doors. But what if hearing the truth turns out to be worse than not knowing at all?

My thoughts

An enjoyable enough read that I felt handled the subject matter well. Stephen was an 11 year old only child being cared for by his Dad. He was wanting to find out the truth about his Mum and why she wasn't in his life. In a quite unique way the secrets began to be revealed slowly.

If this had been an adult book there were avenues that I felt could have been developed further. A well written very easy read that I read in a few hours.

I gave it 6/10. 

About the Author

Author Catherine Storr was educated at St. Paul's Girls' School and went on to study English at Newnham College, Cambridge. She then went to medical school and worked part-time as a Senior Medical Officer in the Department of Psychological Medicine of the Middlesex Hospital from 1950 to 1963.

Her first book was published in 1940, but was not successful. It was not until the 1950s that her books became popular. She wrote mostly children's books as well as books for adults, plays, short stories, and adapted one of her novels into an opera libretto. She published more than 30 children's books, but is best known for Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf and Marianne Dreams, which was made into a television series and a film.