I enjoyed this book a lot. Dave Cousins has a way with words that makes you forget all about the real world and drag you into the book itself. “15 Days Without a Head” is filled with drama, dilemma, and disaster: a perfect recipe for a must-read.

Laurence Roach has been through enough. He has a depressed alcoholic mother, a little brother who thinks he’s Scooby-Doo, a friend who might be more than a friend, an apartment that looks like a warzone, and a nosy neighbor who doesn’t seem to understand that it’s rude to spy. Laurence starts thinking that maybe all his family needs is a holiday. So, he signs up for “Baz’s Bedtime Bonanza” to try and win a luxurious all-expenses-paid holiday to wherever they want. Unfortunately, his mom picks that opportune moment to disappear in a cloud of booze one night and never come back. Laurence is left to his own devices and has to provide for his brother, Jay, and himself without anyone finding out what happened. Terrified child services will separate him from Jay, Laurence entangles himself in a web of intricate lies in this influential story about struggle, persistence, and hope.