City of the Beasts

With his mother in hospital, fifteen-year-old Alex Cold is sent to his fierce, wonderful grandmother, Kate - a pipe-smoking, vodka-drinking old reporter with blue eyes "as sharp as daggers' points". Kate is about to embark on an expedition to the dangerous, remote world of the Amazon rainforest, but rather than change her plans, she simply takes Alex along with her. They set off with their team - including a local guide and his daughter, Nadia - in search of a fabled headhunting tribe and a legendary, marauding creature known to locals as 'the Beast', only to find out much, much more about the mysteries of the jungle and its inhabitants.