Beyond the Max will be released on the 11th of April 2026, and can be pre-ordered immediately, directly from publisher Dicepool Party. All proceeds from the sales of Beyond the Max will be donated to Bristol Autism Support.

Max struggles to get through each school day, isolating himself due to his sensory issues and unfortunately becoming a target for bullies in the process. Yet when he’s introduced to a new friendly, understanding student named Shilo, Max doesn’t feel so alone any more. When a shocking incident occurs during a particularly eventful school day, Max decides to try and solve a mystery, and right an impending injustice.

As a neurodivergent person myself, I found Max’s struggles incredibly relatable. Writer JR Turvey has channeled his own experience, as someone diagnosed as neurodivergent later in life (again, something we have in common), to create an absorbing drama with a genuinely intriguing mystery at its core.

Turvey does a fantastic job of exploring the experience of being neurodivergent in a world not built with these sensory and sensitivity issues in mind.

Though the experience of being neurodivergent is different for everyone, there are many common aspects. It feels like Turvey really does well to bring so many of the same thoughts and feelings I’ve had over the course of my life to make Max, and other characters, feel both real and very relatable.

The story itself could be considered to centre on a fairly low stakes crime (though the stakes are pretty high for at least one character), but anyone with the strong sense of justice and firm moral stance that many autistic people have will know that there’s absolutely no such thing as low stakes when it comes to any injustice. No matter how slight or inconsequential the matter may be to neurotypical people, it truly bothers me (and, it seems, Turvey and his characters) when a wrong cannot be righted.

It may seem as if the story would only really work if you can truly relate to Max, but that’s not the case at all. It works well even if you aren’t someone who experiences the world as an autistic person does, given that it is largely concerned with solving a mystery; it just happens that it does so by shining a much needed spotlight on the experiences of neurodivergent people.

Though neurodivergent people often see and experience the world in fairly black and white terms, I did also like how there’s much more nuance and depth to at least one character here, and just who that is may well be surprising.

You can find out yourself by reading the excellent Beyond the Max, and help a great cause in the process.

Beyond the Max will be released on the 11th of April 2026, and can be pre-ordered immediately, directly from publisher Dicepool Party. All proceeds from the sales of Beyond the Max will be donated to Bristol Autism Support.

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