The story of Hamish, who lives in a Very Boring Town, and then finds out that every so often Time Stops, and he can move unfrozen while most of the world remains motionless - and attacked by monsters!

I mostly enjoyed this fun little story, where Terrible Monsters cause Meaness in people, and plucky kids working together save the day. I am a bit woke now though, and I found that the way Bad Things tended to be Physically Repulsive (whether the school bullies, or the Terrible Monsters) made me twitch a little.

Also, it's the first one in a series of at least four books, and I'm not desperate to read any more, but I am a bit annoyed it's not a standalone story. I will never find out what's happened to his dad!

Oh, there is a charming flick-book of a flying blackbird and a clock along the bottom of the pages.

As an aside, two things that ought to be obvious but weren't to me

Danny Wallace is a completely different author to David Walliams, despite them both writing brightly coloured kids comedy books and having very similar initials
Danny Wallace the children's author is exactly the same person as Danny Wallace the comedian who did 'Are you Dave Gorman' and 'Join me' ( )

Lots of parts are just hilarious.
If you like adventure and fun stories, this book is for you! EASY READING ( )

Very interesting junior school novel which is at times hilarious and other times absolutely heartbreaking. Layout and illustrations similar to DOAWK, but this book actually has a lot more depth to it than first appears. This is the story of Hamish who lives in the Fourth most boring village in the UK. (Not the first...but the fourth...so it is terribly, terribly boring.) Hamish's father has recently disappeared and this has coincided with a rise in complaints and grumpiness from all the adults living in the village. The only thing Hamish has left to remind him of his father is an explorer watch. The book opens with Hamish sitting in a classroom when the world just stops...the teacher is mid sentence, the boy next to him is picking his nose, birds are flying by outside and everything just stops...except Hamish and his watch and the town hall clock! Hamish is at first a little freaked out by this (understandably) but when the world starts up again, he realises that this is his opportunity to get revenge on a kid who is bullying him. Then when the next PAUSE happens, creatures come out of the woods and start stealing adults who are stopped. Terrible, hideous creatures that might take Hamish unless he pretends he is stopped too. The pauses get longer and the monsters wreak more and more havoc They even steal his mother and his broody 15 year old brother (James not Jimmy).
No one will believe Hamish and he feels helpless to stop them....until he meets a girl with a blue streak in her hair who doesn't pause like the rest of his village.
An interesting fable about learning to work together to sort out problems (Hamish must team up with people he doesn't like), about hoping for something and having part of that hope realised but the rest dashed! (SPOILER ALERT: Hamish believes his Dad has been stolen by the Terribles rather than disappeared to another life somewhere else.)
Some parts are hilarious - the dentist and the moody brother particularly - the poems he writes for his girlfriend are very funny. The part where he gets revenge on the bully might make some cringe - Hamish pulls up the bully's trousers while he is on the toilet during a pause so he disgraces himself - but Hamish feels very awful afterwards proving that just because you CAN do something; doesn't mean you SHOULD!
This appears to be the first in a series as Hamish and Alice appear to embark on a quest to find Hamish's father.
Good introduction to fantasy/horror for younger readers. ( )