By MARGIE THOMSON

Roxborogh manages to introduce several issues into this slim, exciting story. Most disturbing is a mother's failure to protect her children from the violence of her new partner - in fact, in this book, so afraid is the mother of losing her new bloke, she won't accept that anything bad is happening. This throws her children very much on to their own resources, so the heroine Nadine, who must be around 13 or 14, stands out as independent and courageous, dealing with a difficult situation almost on her own.

Her stepfather, it turns out, is involved in much more than physically abusing her and her brothers. Dogs start to go missing in their small rural community, and Nadine is sickened to realise that a dog-fighting ring is operating nearby. Then Nadine's own dog is taken off her, and she must take action, even without her mother's support.

New House

$12.95