![<i>The Summer of '82</i> by Dave O'Neil.](/web/20161008201112im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/m/0/x/o/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.grm1ag.png/1474514879389.jpg)
The Summer of '82
DAVE O'NEIL
NERO, $29.99
Someone's got to be responsible, so I'm not going to tell you how Dave O'Neil and his high school mates made a bomb during the long break after finishing HSC. It's devastatingly simple, it works and landed them at the Nunawading Police Station. His light, thoroughly suburban tale of summer holidays, boredom, chasing the elusive butterfly of first love (in his case to Mildura and back for zilch), being too old for your trail bikes, playing in a band – and the occasional bomb – is a lot of fun, transporting the reader back to the clear blue skies of summers past, to that foreign country where we did things differently. He passes his exams with honours (amazing his parents), is told his band is crap but he's funny, and at the end of the summer the right girl at the right time gives him a real kiss. Bring on the Mondo Rock soundtrack!