Review: Raised By Wolves


Several years ago, one of the punchiest, high-powered middle grade fictions I've ever encountered fuelled my interest and reading appetite. Two Wolves by Tristan Bancks gave young readers a crime-based thriller firmly centred around two young children, Ben and his seven-year-old little sister, Olive. Roll forward five years (12 real life ones) and another action infused, edge-of-your-seat drama that will keep kids reading long into the night punches in with, Raised By Wolves.

Although featuring the same Silver family members, Raised By Wolves reads successfully as a stand-alone novel with only a smattering of discreet references to the former that never slacken the pace. Olive is now 12 and fighting her own inner two wolves; the need to know if her errant, criminal father loves her or not with the urge to cut him loose forever. Ben meanwhile is on the precipice of graduating Police Academy fulfilling his desire to fight crime; an ironic twist of fate considering his family make-up. But as these tales depict, 'badness' is not necessarily hereditary and circumstance can alter everything. Just as the sighting of her Dad outside of her school one afternoon does for Olive. 

Thrust into instant investigative morbid-curiosity mode, Olive follows her father, rescues him, offers him money to debt clear, succumbs to his mistruths, recoils with rejection, and finally launches after him in hot pursuit, determined to retrieve the money which is neither legally his nor hers to have. All this within the first few hours of sighting him. As night falls. In the rain. Barefoot. 

Bancks maintains these threads of intense tension with time stamped chapter headings, a heady mix of sensory detail and galloping action all laced with tantalising snapshots of suspense. We feel Olive's every shiver and slice of pain along with her fierce determination to confront Ben Silver once and for all. 

While Two Wolves focused on Ben, Raised By Wolves shifts the perspective to this gutsy little heroine who quite frankly, I loved getting involved with. Olive is plucky, stubborn, stoic and incredibly self-righteous. She reminded me a little of the beguiling Shirley Temple (ancient Baby Boomer reference) character who is extravagantly proud of her 'self-reliance'. However Olive is, at the end of the day, still just a kid looking for a sense of who she is, where she fits in and if she actually belongs to the family she was born into. In short, she just wants to be loved. How she eventually arrives at the answer to her many concerns follows an explosive, beautifully executed climax that I would have paid to see in real life! 

Raised By Wolves is an animated, engrossing read packed solid with action, high-end stakes and an ending that is screen worthy-watchable and equally as memorable. It celebrates crazy independent thinking and can-do attitudes without ever glorifying corruption and misdeeds rather highlighting the complexities of socialietal situations and those who are subjected to them. Not everyone in the same classroom has the same family dynamic. Not everyone was raised by wolves. But this brilliant work allows us to run with them for a few fervent hours.

Title: Raised By Wolves
Author: Tristan Bancks
Publisher: Penguin, $17.99
Publication Date: 5 May 2026
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781761349812
For ages: 10+
Type: Middle Grade Fiction

Buy the Book:   Penguin Books      


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