In a true school from Hell, the geek (a spunky girl called Minou), the Greek (the narrator Michael Patroclus) and the Pimpernel (whose name I won't give away but has more than a passing reference to the original) band together to defeat the Bin gang of bullies and a headmaster with Hitler-esque tendencies. The Bin gang are the prefects of the school, so called because they thrust anyone who won't toe their own particular line into the nearest bin. Michael has learned to be invisible, to follow his own set of rules and stay out of the way, but when Minou and a new boy join the school, they aren't about to let the Bins and Sir Pent, the Head, have their own way. When a number of the brightest pupils disappear, supposedly drowned in a shipwreck, the Pinpernel and his two cohorts (who for two-thirds of the book don't know which of their classmates he is) rescue them in a rip-roaring, nail-biter of an adventure. The Pimpernel is a remarkable character, able to do remarkable (and not always believable) things. He leaves his signature drawing of the little flower after each of his episodes, and gradually the whole school rises up to get rid of the bullies and Sir Pent - as smooth and oily as his name. Black humour abounds in this ripping read, which will be particularly enjoyed by boys.