Even though some plot moments are fairly dramatic, it never steers into melodrama and all the novel's interest remains in the reactions of the emotionally-driven personae around each material event. Yet 'Us Against You' absolutely fits this description, as greater care is taken to depict the cast's memories, motivations and moments of passion.

When someone told me 'Beartown' was a psychological novel, I instinctively disagreed as I felt it was mostly consisted of plot action and speech. It acknowledges the spiritual complexity of the reader, and involves us in our own psychological creation, even as the text creates the psychological characters around us. I personally enjoyed this style of storytelling, as the narrator directly challenges the reader to reflect on the meaning of very large existential questions.

Not all of these are really explored to their fullest or followed up completely, but they certainly evoke a serious emotional tone even if the structure is a little repetitive.

As far as narrative tone goes, we quickly become accustomed to deep and thought provoking questions opening virtually every chapter. Overall, 'Us Against You' is an exceptionally well crafted set of narratives with the childhood nostalgia of Stephen King ('It') and the blood-soaked grit of Malorie Blackman ('Noughts and Crosses'). All the same, this lends a pervading sense of hope to the reader's ravaged heart by the end of the novel (Blackman can't resist killing off a few more characters in this book and the emotional turmoil is intense). We never really get away from a rainbow gleaming worldview where good always wins over evil. That said, there does seem to be rather too many exceptionally talented kids in one single town and this idealism bleeds at the edges of the tale. Backman ensures we care about every life we zoom into, from the overweight depressed foreign kid to the grumpy old man in the pub. However, the story feels carefully edited so as not to waste pace on storylines that don't matter. Like the first book, the cast of characters is wide and the scope of interlocking plot threads is ambitious. It is the family dynamics that Backman sketches most skilfully and form the emotional girth of the story. By contrast, the thug figures are far more subtly drawn, and mob boss Teemu Rinnius is particularly sympathetic.

This time the plot is rather more gangland and a few of the political figures seem cardboard and uninteresting. I found myself far more deeply invested in the plot of 'Us Against You' since I knew the characters' history from book one. The themes of heartbreak, loyalty, family, violence, love and grief are explored in more powerfully emotional ways in this novel compared with 'Beartown'. It took me a while to get into the first book, 'Beartown' but it set the scene very well for 'Us Against You', which I actually enjoyed far more. Incredible book, better than the first one

Sequel to beartown