The novel Stone Cold is a very suspenseful and thrilling book that was written by Robert Swindells. Swindells used characterisation and setting to modify the plot of the story and develop several themes, such as: custody, love, family issues and relationships, treachery, atrocity and subsistence. Swindells developed both Link as the main protagonist and Shelter as the main antagonist. Swindells made both major characters to be capable of change and undergo change consequences or as a result of the journey they undergo in the story, they are also developed in terms of psychological insight.
Stone Cold is about emphasizing for the homeless people and having to deal with the kinds of people to face in the streets. On page one, the major character Link says: “You can call me Link. It’s not my name, but it’s what I say when anybody asks, which isn’t often. I’m invisible see? One of the invisible people.” having Link say that would make the readers feel empathy for him and will also feel that they are Link’s friends.
Several people struggle with finding friends they should trust. In the story, themes of friendship and trust are vital in surviving the street life. Link will encounter a stranger, but then befriends the stranger and calls him Ginger. “This your place?’... ‘No you’re right mate.’... ‘Just shove a bit so could spread my roll.”(p41). This chapter will start the beginning of Link having his first friend on the streets, a friend who will teach him how to be street wise. Knowing that living in the streets would be difficult for a 16-year-old boy, he is willing to take the risks as a part of growing up and leaving his past behind him.
90% of people all over the world have had family issues, issues that can ruin their relationships as family members. Stone Cold is also about family issues and relationships, even violence or worse, homicide. Link struggles with his step father’s attitude of humiliating him in front of the