​I am a huge fan of Paula Rawsthorne and although she does not write horror fiction her thrillers always have a very dark edge to them and her back-catalogue of The Truth about Celia Frost, Blood Tracks and Shell are well worth investigating. Her latest offering, The New Boy, is another very solid thriller convincingly set in the hustle and bustle of a Sixth Form College. Zoe starts college and her best friends from her previous school, Jodie, Sonja and Ethan are also there, soon they meet Jack who becomes incredibly popular, very quickly. Although this novel has a lot to hold the attention I found it very predictable and much of the action was so telegraphed I believe many teen readers may well agree. I was hoping the ending might hold a twist, but it ended as I thought it would.
​
There was much to admire in Zoe, one of the few students to shun social media and The New Boy made many clever observations on this. Jack is amazing at everything and soon unites the college across the varied friendship groups and gangs and because he is attracted to Zoe friction begins to appear in her friendship group, especially with her oldest friend Ethan. As the story moves on there are more clues and suspicions as it flitted from drama to thriller. An easy, but hopefully not too predictable read, for kids eleven years and above. 

Skyward was an outstanding YA science fiction novel; a departure for a writer best known for his huge, complex, fantasy novels. This was a highly entertaining mix of Star Wars, Starship Troopers and every other cool and loud SF novel or film you can think of, with a dash of dystopia and teen angst thrown in. There might not be much original about Skyward, but I was pulled right into this never-ending space battle of a nation stuck underground and whenever they try to make a break for it are pushed back by alien attacks who destroy their ships quicker than they can build them.
​
The main character is teenager Spensa who dreams of being a fighter pilot and help in the brutal battle against the vicious alien race, the Krells, whom seem able to predict humanity’s every move, maybe even read their minds. The novel opens with Spensa entering flight academy and what follows is an engaging coming of age drama as she fights against the dark history of her family in which she has never been able to escape the shadow of her traitorous father. This spunky teenager was an outstanding lead character, battling on with a fraction of the support the privileged have in the flight academy. You’ll be rooting for her in no time. It's fast paced, has a massive amount of battle scenes, and a very clever ending. It was outstanding. Any teenager who loves science fiction is going to connect with this book. ​

Dead Endings was originally published as monthly chapters on digital magazine Sparkler Monthly with chapter illustrations and bonus art by Irene Flores. The website notes that Dead Endings is recommended for readers aged 16+ “due to violence, crude language, and sensitive topics.” I found Dead Endings to be fairly tame and, even though it has not been written for a YA audience, it fits there quite well and would happily recommend it to a younger audience. The f-word is common-place in YA these days and there really is little more than that to offend in this debut novel about two young women with paranormal/psychic abilities.
​
University student Cailen Delaney can feel the presence of ghosts and whilst her roommate and best friend Gabriella is away travelling she is approached by a student journalist Everett who has his own weird ability; he can smell the restless dead and suspects there is a murderer, or serial killer, on the loose. Cailen decides to help Everett and is soon sucked into a supernatural mystery involving a serial killer who is trying to use the victims to contact the dead. Before long the cool and sassy Gabriella returns, whose psychic abilities are much stronger than Cailen. Dead Ends was a very easy to read paranormal mystery with fun and engaging leading characters, however, it was just too light for my taste and it lacked any level of real threat and the self-referential mention of Scoobie Doo was spot on.  I’m sure it will have its fans though. Perhaps it would have grabbed me more in its original format? You can read more about it here: https://sparklermonthly.com/series/dead-endings/
Tony Jones

Having read all eight books on the current Carnegie Medal Short List I fancied a change and decided to read the tenth and latest Red Eye horror novel. Sadly, we’re unlikely to see Gabriel Dylan’s Whiteout on next year’s Carnegie Medal Short List; “There loss I say!” This was a highly entertaining and very trashy page-turner, it was not serious, heavy or had any deep moral meaning, but I had outstanding fun reading a story so wild teen horror fans should lap it up.   

A huge snowstorm is brewing whilst a group of British sixth form school pupils retire to their hotel after a long day of skiing, in the remote mountains of Austria. The hotel is weirdly short of staff and all the locals have abandoned their shops. In the middle of the night one of the girls screams after blood is found and the pupils soon discover some of their teachers have also disappeared. They quickly realise something really horrible is outside and once a ski instructor is ripped out of the door the kids realise they are under attack. This all happens incredibly quickly and soon the group are attempting to hide and wait it out but with the storm raging they realise there is no help coming anytime soon. Escape is there only hope. But death awaits…

This novel is definitely a great addition to the Red Eye series and is probably one of my favourites. It was a very gripping book that wasted no time introducing the horror elements and was unrelenting once it got going. I say this because the deaths start mounting up as early as page sixty.  This very violent opening section gives the reader terror, action and humour revolving around the time the enemy makes its first bloody appearance. It also includes a funny sequence where Stefan, the ski instructor who looks like he is going to be a leading character opens the door and is abruptly snatched, never to be seen again. Reminding me of the hilarious scene in the film Deep Blue Sea where Samuel L. Jackson is devoured by an intelligent shark, disappearing and munched in a brief second. It happened that quickly and was both shocking and quite funny.

I also liked many of the characters because they all go through believable types of development and were a good reflection of real school kids. Tara, for example, is at first a spoilt brat and at the end she ends up saving another character. Nico was another character I felt a lot of sympathy for because when it looks like he is going to die he is still very funny, mentioning how he would never get to see how the Game Of Thrones ended! The loner of the group Charlie was also a great battler and I liked the way he exerted his personality on the rest of the group after being marginalised at the start.

This novel was very similar to a film called 30 Days Of Night about a group of people in the Alaska who to try to survive a sudden vampire invasion. The pacing of this book was maybe a bit too fast because after the main attack it was quite difficult to sustain this level of suspense as the group hid out.  However, there were quite a few encounters with the vampire like creatures and it kept my interest all the way until the end. The teenagers were so vulnerable as they were being stalked I really thought they had no chance of survival.

I would recommend this novel to anyone who reads the Red Eye series or who enjoys action and horror novels. I was engrossed from start to finish and this book makes me think twice about ever going skiing. Overall, it was a great page turner and an easy, quick and undemanding read that will leave you satisfied. I think my English teacher would sadly shake his head if he saw me reading this in class, as he likes to see kids read the classics, but I would just blame my dad as it was him who recommended it.
4.5/5
AJ

​Charlie hopes that the school ski trip will be the escape from his unhappy home life he so desperately needs. But there is something wrong with the remote ski village of Kaldgellan. Something is out there, something ancient and evil, among the pines and the deep untracked drifts, watching and waiting. And when the storms blow in, Charlie and his schoolmates wake to find the resort deserted. Cut off from the rest of the world far below, as night falls the few left alive on the snowbound mountain will wish they were somewhere, anywhere else. Only ski guide Hanna seems to know of Kaldgellan’s long-buried secrets, but whether Charlie can trust her is another question…

A chilling RED EYE horror, perfect for fans of Dawn Kurtagich, Juno Dawson and Charlie Higson.