Tim Bowler was born and brought up in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, attending school locally, where he specialised in languages. On leaving school he read Swedish and Scandinavian Studies at the University of East Anglia, and lived for a while in Sweden. He then worked in a number of fields, including forestry and the timber trade, before returning to Britain to spend seven years as a teacher. By the time he left teaching, Tim had become Head of Modern Languages at a school in Newton Abbot, Devon.

In 1990, Tim left teaching to become a full-time freelance translator and writer. Having written his first story at the tender age of five, he then progressed to short stories and poetry, and has been writing novels since the age of twenty-five.

Tim Bowler truly grabbed the attention of the children’s publishing world in 1998 when he won the prestigious Carnegie Medal with his third novel, RIVER BOY. Since then Tim has gone from strength to strength, winning both the Angus Book Award and the Lancashire Libraries Children’s Book Award for his fourth novel, SHADOWS. He has also won the South Lanarkshire Book Award and the Stockton Libraries Award with his fifth novel, STORM CATCHERS. Tim’s writing is beautifully lyrical, yet he is also able to create tense, action-packed thrillers. Both of these styles are combined in his sixth novel, STARSEEKER. His latest novel, APOCALYPSE, is a dark and powerful page turner.

Tim lives in Devon with his wife and works as a full-time writer and freelance translator of Scandinavian languages.

'Not quite sure why I'm talking to you at all. I don't even know you. Maybe it's something Becky said to me. You got to make sense of your life. And if you ever want to talk, I'm here for you. Except Becky's dead. So maybe that's why I'm dumping on you. So what am I going to tell you? Not much so don't get excited. You probably want to know my name. Well, that's a bit of a problem. I got loads. There's the name I was given as a baby but that's a dronky name. Then there's the names I make up. But there is one name I like. Everybody called me it in the old days. No one does now coz no one in this city knows it. And that's fine. I don't like to remember. But I do like the name. You can use it if you want. BLADE.'

BLADE takes you on a roller-coaster ride through the secret and dangerous life of its unforgettable narrator.

'A terse and penetrating thriller set in an anonymous urban underworld... The book is succinct and flawlessly paced - BLADE won't leave the hands of even the most disinclined reader from beginning to end.' The Bookseller, Bookseller's Choice for May 2008