Changes

|publisher=Robinson

|date=July 2012

|website=

|video=

|summary=A split second is all it takes to make a decision that will have a devastating impact on many lives. That is what happens in Cath Staincliffe's novel, 'Split Second', when teenager Jason Barnes challenges three youths who are attacking another boy. The incident ends in tragedy; Jason is dead and the other boy, Luke, is in a coma. Jason's parents and Luke's mum are left to make sense of what has happened and also to seek justice.

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On a late December evening, Emma Curtis is on a bus travelling home from work when she becomes aware of a young lad being picked on by three others. Too scared to intervene, she sits alone feeling guilty but taking everything in. To her shame, nineteen year old student, Jason Barnes, comes downstairs on the bus and immediately challenges the three youths. Luke, the young victim, leaps off the bus and a chase follows. Jason continues to try and defend Luke, and they end up in Jason's front garden where his parents witness the brutal attack. Eventually the trio run off leaving Luke unconscious on the snowy ground. Worse still, is the realisation that Jason has been stabbed and tragically it turns out to be fatal.