Gaz Takes Off is a journey of self-discovery
for Gary and teenager readers will relish the humour and be challenged
about their views, values and relationships by this sensitive, perceptive
and immensely enjoyable book. REVIEWS LIKE A ROCKET (extract) Gaz, or Gary as his mum and dad would call him, lives in Albany where life is just about as good as it gets. A girlfriend, great mates, a band (he plays a mean guitar) and a loving family. What else could a young bloke want? Try a trip to the States on a Rotary cultural tour
with a group of High School kids from around WA for starters and tingling
sensation of expectant adventure fills the air. The adventures begin almost before the tour itself gets into gear when Gaz separates from his group and misses the connection from Frankfurt airport to London. He winds up hooking onto a group of musical German kids heading for Paris. Then the action moves quickly to Canada and a home stay in Toronto where the real story is set. It is here that Gaz's fidelity to the beautiful Kim is tested to the limit and where he confronts adventures that will require greater levels of bravery and inner strength than ever before in his life. These are real kids in
extraordinary circumstances& what better mix for a
great read? Gaz Takes Off fairly
rockets along. If you've ever been a teenager yourself,
you'll love it. Nigel Weekes THE COMIC, NOT THE DARK (extract) [my worst review!! WF] Adolescents as well as adults are entitled to their junk reading. The book adopts the structure of a soapie. It is sequential without highlights, offering a string of events seemingly equal in importance and always ordered in their natural time sequence. I would like to suggest a novel is more than this. Flynn portrays Gary as an innocent who, in spite of the number of incidents and tunes played on his guitar, does not change, develop or grow. He walks through life wide-eyed and immune. What Flynn has given his readers, presumably mainly boys, is a naïve vision gift-wrapped in the jargon of 'ballistic', 'cool' and 'wicked'. Tess Brady
- lecturer in Creative Writing, Griffith
University, Gold Coast.  AUTHOR'S BACKGROUND NOTES gaz takes off GTO was the
best fun to write. It really began when Gaz fan
mail started arriving. I hadn't actually intended
writing a sequel to Gaz - although I guess with
Gary and Kim both heading off to the rock concert (at the
end of my first book), it was a possibility. But
I'd already started on Different Voices (see
background notes), and suddenly all these kids were
asking for another Gaz story.
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