Public Enemy Number Two
| Author | Anthony Horowitz |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Diamond Brothers |
| Genre | Children's novel |
| Publisher | Lions (1990) Walker Books (2007) |
|
Publication date
|
14 March 1991 |
| Media type | Paperback (1990) Hardback (2005) |
| OCLC | 24698306 |
| Preceded by | The Falcon's Malteser |
| Followed by | South By South East |
Public Enemy Number Two is a novel written by Anthony Horowitz, the second in The Diamond Brothers series. The main character in the book is Nick Diamond, His older brother Herbert Simple – who goes by the name Tim Diamond – is an unsuccessful private detective. The novel is particularly known for its humour. It is followed by South By South East.
Throughout the novel, there are many characters based on classical cliches in fiction.
Primary characters
Secondary characters
Protagonists
Antagonists
The story starts when Nick Simple is in school detention and is visited by police officers Snape and Boyle. They request that Nick go to Strangeday Hall, a Juvenile Delinquent prison for young offenders and befriend the inmate Johnny Powers, a gang leader known as Public Enemy Number One, and through him find out about The Fence, a major gangster that controls all the buying and selling of stolen goods in London with whom Johnny is affiliated with. Nick refuses and the police leave.
On a school field trip to Woburn Abbey, Nick is framed for attempting to steal the Woburn Carbuncles, and despite his attempts to evade police, arrested and sentenced to 18 months at Strangeday Hall. He has to share a cell with Johnny Powers, just as Snape and Boyle wanted. Soon after he arrives Snape and Boyle reveal that they arranged to have Nick framed. Nick manages to gain Johnny's trust after he saves him from being killed by henchmen of another gang leader, Big Ed.
Nick and Johnny escape prison with the help of Tim Diamond, Nick's brother, and Ma Powers, Johnny's mother. They get in a car chase with the police but escape, but during the chase, Snape and Boyle are apparently killed, leaving Nick believing that he's the only person alive who knows he's innocent. Nick and Tim stay at Johnny's home for a while, until Nick overhears Johnny telling Ma that he is going to see Penelope. Believing Penelope to be the Fence, Nick follows Johnny into the Wapping Subway station but loses him there. After making his way out onto the street, he is then captured by henchmen of Big Ed, who later tie him to a train track, intending for him to be run over by a train.
Before Nick can be killed, a man approaches Nick and helps him from the tracks just before the train passes. Nick knows that he had seen that man before, but doesn't know where. To prove his loyalty to Johnny, and take revenge on Ed, Nick burns the train car in which they reside by emptying an oil drum and starting a fire. Nick decides that he must go back to Johnny and Tim, as they will surely be wondering where is by now. But he is still determined to find the Fence, in the hope of using him to barter his freedom. Nick realises that Palis, his French teacher, could have seen Snape and Boyle on the afternoon that he was serving a detention. He heads for Paliss' flat in Chelsea but is nearly caught by the police there; they had spotted him in a nearby street. Palis saves him, and Nick explains his mission to him. He stays the night at Palis’s flat. Palis drives Nick back to Wapping the following morning and tells him to get in touch if he needs anything. At the hideout, Nick sees a doorbell. Not recalling one, he sneaks into the house and rescues Tim from a bomb rigged to go off if the newly installed bell had been rung.
...
Wikipedia